Manila: Philippine troops were locked in a standoff with hundreds of gunmen who killed six people and took at least 220 hostages in the south yesterday in a bid to derail peace talks.
Armoured troops surrounded the southern port city of Zamboanga after between 200 and 300 Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) gunmen entered six coastal villages on its outskirts before dawn, the military said.
“We want an independent Mindanao,” one of the gunmen, Asamin Hussain, said referring to the southern third of the mainly Catholic nation.
The rebel group — that forged a pro-autonomy peace settlement with the Philippine government in 1976 and 1996 — overran a village police station and attacked six villages in a renewed secessionist stance.
Regional Police Chief Juanito Vaño Jr said that government security forces got back Rio Hondo.
The MNLF is now manning the police station of Sta. Barbara village in Zamboanga, MNLF spokesperson, Atty. Emmanuel Fontanilla, said in a radio interview.
Six, including one navy man, one policeman and four civilians, were killed and 24 others were wounded.
Nur Misuari, a former rebel leader and local government leader, led 400 heavily armed men who clashed with government soldiers in the occupied villages, sources said.
“Government soldiers prevented members of MNLF to raise the banner of the proposed Bangsamor Republik at Zamboanga City’s municipal hall,” said Zamboanga City Mayor Isabelle Climaco-Salazar.
Misuari failed a show of force in Zamboanga City, after he declared on August 12, the independence of the entire Mindanao in the south, including Palawan in southwestern Philippines, and Malaysia’s Sabah.
He had campaigned for the establishment of the “Bangsamoro Republik”, to the United Nations in New York.
Negotiations are now ongoing for the release of the hostages, said Climaco-Salazar, adding that the hostages are being used as human shields.
The MNLF rebels held 20 hostages were in Sta. Catalina village, and 200 more in Kasanyangan village. The MNLF rebels also invaded Sta. Barbara, Talon Talon and Mampang villages.
But the intruding rebels, including Misuari, eluded arrest.
In Zamboanga City, 800 police and military men were deployed on air and seaports, banks, and hotels.
Armoured personnel carriers support ground troops at major thoroughfares where dozens of roadblocks were established.
Zamboanga’s busy commercial hub was deserted and looked like a chaotic warzone. Its one million residents were all quiet and inside their homes, away from the threatening sound of war from clashing forces. Flights were suspended to and from Zamboanga.
“Zamboanga City is under control. The rebels are contained at far coastal areas. They could not enter the city. They could not go to other places,” said armed forces spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala.
“We are in close coordination with our police and military authorities. Everything is being done to solve the crisis the soonest possible time with minimal damage to lives and properties,” said Mayor Climaco-Salazar.
“But we are worried that clashes might spread to Basilan island,” said businesswoman Lita Wee, who owns a major commercial establishment in the nearby island.
Misuari, one of three leaders of the divided MNLF, a group that he founded in 1969, renewed his call for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines last month, claiming that he was not included in the forging of a framework agreement between the Philippine government and MNLF’s rival, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2012.
The Philippine government and the MILF are now drafting details of the agreement that called for enhanced self-governance, to grow out of an existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
“We don’t like to be part of the Philippines anymore,” said Misuari when he called for Bangsamor Republik’s establishment last August.
At the time, he announced plans to takeover government installations, including private and government institution, the implementation of which could be part of MNLF’s invasion of five coastal villages in Zamboanga Province.