Misuari loyalists take more hostages

Hours after freeing hostages, Misuari loyalists swooped on village Ayala, six km from Zamboanga City, taking hostage a still undetermined number of residents, a senior military official said yesterday.

As the military stepped up its hunt for the kidnappers in the outskirts of Zamboanga City, southern Philippines, six followers of Nur Misuari, the outgoing governor for the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, were killed and nine soldiers wounded on Friday night.

The kidnapping was similar to the earlier operation last month. "It was an operation similar to the MNLF raid on Cabatangan Complex where the November 27 hostage taking occurred," said Col Alexander Llano of the Southern Command.

However, Llano could not say where the MNLF band in Ayala came from, as the MNLF militants had already left the area for a camp in Zamboanga del Sur, 80 km south of Zamboanga City.

The military said in a belated report that the militants had to drag away the bodies of their slain comrades after Friday's clash when the military encountered a hundred Misuari followers.

They are the loyalist faction of the Moro National Liberation Front that signed a peace agreement with the government in 1996, said Col Roland Detabali, adding the military has continued a search for more Misuari followers.

Detabali said some of them might not have followed their leaders who decided to go to a nearby village in Zamboanga del Sur, following a negotiation that ensued after they took 118 hostages near the autonomous region office in Zamboanga City on November 28.

The military allowed the MNLF fighters to leave then, after acting autonomous region head, Isnaji Alvarez, assured that weapons would be surrendered to him.

Southern Command chief, Lt General Roy Cimatu still expressed apprehension even if the government negotiator accompanied the Misuari-MNLF camp to Zamboanga del Sur. "Part of the agreement is that they will go to (Zamboanga del Sur)," said Cimatu.