Civilians protest as Philippine military
assault rages on
JOLO, Philippines, Sept 30
(AFP) - Hundreds of residents of the Philippine southern island of Jolo held a protest
rally Saturday, calling for a halt to the two-week old military operation against Muslim
rebels.
About 400 rallyists assembled
at a university and charged that civilians were the most affected by the assault on Abu
Sayyaf extremists holding 17 foreign and local hostages in the island's jungles.
The protesters rallied at an
incident in Jolo City on Monday when troops raided the city's main mosque and arrested 10
suspected Abu Sayyaf members.
The incident had been branded a
desecration of the mosque but the military claimed it had exercised restraint.
The demonstrators also
criticized searches of Muslim homes without warrant by government soldiers. The searches
were aimed at confiscating illegal weapons hidden on the island but there had been
complaints that soldiers were stealing money during the searches.
Saad Yusah, spokesman for the
local Ulama (religious leaders) council said: "This is not the proper way of handling
the Abu Sayyaf group. This will anger the people, particularly the civilians."
The military said that
officially, only 111 Abu Sayyaf, four military and police officers and three civilians had
been killed in two weeks of fighting.
More than 50,000 residents of
Jolo island had been displaced by the violence. Although local officials said the fighting
had eased and that some evacuees could go home, many of them are still afraid to return.
Although the official death
toll has not changed significantly since Thursday, a platoon leader taking part in the
fighting said that four Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, three soldiers and three former Muslim
rebels supporting the military had been killed in a clash on Friday.
Lieutenant Abdurasad Sirajan
said that he and his men were following up reports that Abu Sayyaf members had been
sighted in the town of Maimbung.
They were reportedly with
members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the former main Muslim rebel group
that signed a peace accord with the government in 1996,
The soldiers reached Maimbung
and waged a 25-minute pitched battle with the Abu Sayyaf before the gunmen fled, Sirajan
said, adding that 10 men were killed in battle.
The government launched its
assault on the Abu Sayyaf in Jolo island on September 16 to free the remaining hostages
held by the Abu Sayyaf. Officials predictied that it would be over in a week.
However, the assault has had
few successes aside from two French hostages who managed to escape during the attack and
reports that some of the top Abu Sayyaf leaders had been killed or wounded.
Seventeen hostages remain in
the Abu Sayyaf's hands.
During the first week of the
assault, the government imposed tight restrictions on Jolo, setting up a news blackout,
cutting off communication and transport links between the island and the outside world and
restricting people from going in and out of Jolo's capital town.
Since then, many of these
restrictions have been eased and ferries and telephone services to Jolo have been largely
restored.
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