Ten surrender as Philippine troops tighten
noose on hostage island
JOLO, Philippines, Oct 13 (AFP)
- A further 10 members of a Muslim rebel group surrendered Thursday as government troops
stepped up their bid to rescue five hostages from the southern Philippines, officials
said.
Armed forces chief General
Angelo Reyes, who arrived here to check on ground troops involved in the four-week
assault, said two Abu Sayyaf rebels had surrendered on Wednesday and four others yielded
to police early Thursday.
Four other Abu Sayyaf gunmen
surrendered on Thursday afternoon, when troops also confiscated a military-style jeep
believed to be owned by Abu Sayyaf leader Galib Andang, an AFP reporter witnessed.
The Abu Sayyaf is holding three
Malaysians, an American and a Filipino hostage.
President Joseph Estrada
ordered the military offensive to free the hostages on September 16. Since then, more than
100 Abu Sayyaf gunmen have either surrendered or been captured and 129 have been killed,
along with five soldiers and three government militiamen.
The three Malaysian hostages
are believed to be hidden in a forest near Talipao in central Jolo while the American has
recently been spotted with his captors in the coastal area of Luuk.
The Filipino captive has not
been seen but is believed to be with another faction in Patikul town, also on Jolo island.
The military said that Abu
Sayyaf leaders Andang and Mujib Susukan were being deserted by their men, who were low on
ammunition and famished from weeks of hiding.
Major General Narciso Abaya,
commander of the 5,000-strong Task Force Trident undertaking the rescue effort, said
information from the surrendered rebels could be vital in the safe rescue of the hostages.
"All information gave us a
substantial lead on their exact location," Abaya said. "We have a strict order
to get them wherever they are and to recover the hostages alive. We are calling on them to
surrender because there is no way out for them."
The crisis began in April when
Abu Sayyaf gunmen snatched 21 Asian and European hostages from the Malaysian resort of
Sipadan. All but one of the Sipadan hostages, a Filipino divemaster, have been freed.
The rebels later took more
hostages including 12 Filipino Christian preachers rescued two weeks ago and two French
journalists who were able to escape days after the assault began.
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