Six Muslim kidnappers surrender in Philippines
JOLO, Philippines, Oct 9 (AFP)
- Six Muslim guerrilla kidnappers have surrendered amid a relentless army assault to
rescue their five hostages, a military official said Monday.
Three Abu Sayyaf members turned
in their rifles in Luuk on the southern island of Jolo on Saturday and notified
authorities there that more wanted to surrender, Major General Generoso Senga told DZMM
radio.
Three other guerrillas followed
suit that night, and "there are many others who have sent us messages about their
desire to surrender. Some of these are prominent personalities, but we would not like to
discuss this information" at this time, Senga said.
The Malaya newspaper reported
Monday that Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya, whose faction holds US hostage Jeffrey
Schilling, was among those who had put out feelers about surrendering.
Senga said "our troops are
a bit tired" 24 days into an operation to destroy the self-proclaimed Muslim
independence fighters and rescue the hostages remaining from a five-month kidnapping
spree.
But he said "these
positive developments resulting from their actions are giving them encouragement."
Two French journalists and 12
Filipino Christian missionaries are among the hostages freed since the assault began. The
military says at least 129 gunmen of the 1,200-member Abu Sayyaf have been killed, while
admitting to having lost eight men, including three civilian spies.
Provincial governor Abdusakur
Tan said Monday that 82,000 people have been displaced during the operation -- more than a
fifth of the population of the 897 square-kilometer (345 square-mile) island.
The spokesman for the
5,000-member Jolo military task force, Major Alberto Gepilano, told AFP that some soldiers
had told their superiors they were "very tired" and wanted to go on vacation.
However, they were told that
"we cannot stop until all the hostages are rescued."
Senate defense committee
chairman Rodolfo Biazon, a retired military chief of staff, said "fresh troops"
should be rotated into Jolo.
"Considering the Abu
Sayyaf problem we are facing now, it's not a matter of one year or one month," he
said, suggesting a long campaign.
Governor Tan said military
chief of staff General Angelo Reyes had told him the operation could last until the end of
the year, "but at the rate we are going, it should not go the distance."
Jolo residents, many of them
formerly sympathetic to the rebels, are now informing authorities about Abu Sayyaf
movements, he said.
"We hope we could do it
earlier," Major General Senga said, stressing that the rebels face "extreme
fatigue and low morale."
He urged them all to surrender,
saying this would be taken into account as a "mitigating circumstance".
Senga said the search was now
concentrated in the central highlands of Jolo after the Abu Sayyaf units, who also hold
three Malaysians and a Filipino, were driven from their hideouts elsewhere on the island.
There has been no aerial
activity by military aircraft around the provincial capital Jolo in the past week, and the
only signs of the operation are the constant relief missions which sally forth from the
provincial hospital with military escort.
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