Fifty masked Abu Sayyaf rebels yesterday attacked a coconut plantation in Lantawan, Basilan, abducted 15 people and escaped leaving a trail of arson.

They first seized 50 hostages, but later freed most of them before fleeing the 250-acre plantation. Two of the 15 are 12 year old boys. "About 50 hooded armed men attacked the residential area of the 250 hectare Golden Harvest Inc. in Tairin village at 9am. As they burned the church and several houses, shocked residents stepped out of their houses to ask for help. About 50 were initially taken hostage," said a relative of Abdul Tata Mohammad, one of the 15 who was taken as a human shield.

Police Superintendent Achma-dul Pangambayan said: "When the chapel was set on fire, the plantation's chief security officer Primitivo Falcasantos intervened and was taken hostage. The gunmen never brought him back to his family. There was a brief firefight between the security guards and the Abu Sayyaf."

Said a relative of Falcasantos: "I don't know what will happen to him. The whole thing happened so fast." "We never thought that something like this might happen. We have been receiving reports that something like this might happen. I did not realise it would happen now," said former Basilan Governor and owner of the plantation Louie Alano.

"My house was burned," cried Napsa Abdul, one of the five residents who lost their homes during the attack. "The attack might have come from one of our reinforcements from Sulu," explain-ed Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya in an interview over Radio Mindanao Network. He did not elaborate.

Intelligence information said that Abu Sayyaf leader Ghalib Andang, also known as Comm-ander Robot, had arrived to support Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani and Sabaya.

Despite the heavy rains, the military mobilised task forces to pursue the Abu Sayyaf, said Brigadier Col. Hermogenes Esperon, the newly-appointed commander of the 103rd Philippine Army Infantry

At least six battalions of soldiers are in Basilan tracking down the bandits holding 13 hostages, nine of the 20 originally taken in Palawan on May 27 and four during their escape in Lamitan last week.

Earlier, the Abu Sayyaf attack which occurred outside Tuburan and Lamitan were intended to serve as diversionary tactics to confuse pursuing troops, said Armed Forces spokesperson Grig. Gen. Edilberto Adan. The 13 Abu Sayyaf hostages, who were abducted from a resort in Palawan and a hospital in Lamitan, Basilan, were divided into two groups, the military said.

The rebels' 16 new hostages were given to another Abu Sayyaf group. One group is in Lantawan, Basilan, where a new set of hostages was taken, said Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan. "A white person was reportedly seen in Lantawan," Adan quoted witnesses as saying.

The other batch of hostages was somewhere in Lamitan-Tuburan area of Basilan, Adan added, but did not specify who the hostages were. Abu Sayyaf leaders, including spokesman Abu Sabaya, the group's head Khadaffy Janjalani and three others, were seen in Bulanza village, which they have taken over.