ZAMBOANGA, Philippines // Philippine troops battled against Muslim rebels on two fronts yesterday, after about 100 extremists attacked a second city near the southern port where guerrillas have been holding scores of residents hostage in a four-day standoff with government forces.
The latest attack was led by Abu Sayyaf gunmen and other militants, officials said. They planned to set fire to a village and a wharf on the rural outskirts of predominantly Christian Lamitan city on Basilan island.
The attack was repulsed by government forces in an hour-long clash that left a government militiaman and an unspecified number of militants dead, and two soldiers wounded, said army col Carlito Galvez.
Basilan is a boat journey away from Zamboanga city, where Moro National Liberation Front fighters have been holding more than 100 hostages since Monday, when government troops fought off their attempt to erect a rebel flag at the city hall.
The Moro rebels joined the Abu Sayyaf in yesterday's attack. Col Galvez said that the Abu Sayyaf, which is a violent faction of the Muslim separatist rebellion, was trying to take advantage of the hostage standoff in Zamboanga "to try to improve its influence and mass base support".
Another government militiaman was missing and troops were pursuing the attackers, who were led by the wanted Abu Sayyaf commanders Isnilon Hapilon and Puruji Indama, Col Galvez said.
Thousands of army troops and police had been on full alert this week to thwart plans by Abu Sayyaf to stir up trouble in Basilan as the standoff in Zamboanga drags on, according to Col Galvez.
The regional governor, Mujiv Hataman, said that authorities had discovered plans for the assault in Basilan, allowing them to monitor rebel movements and evacuate residents as early as Wednesday.
In Zamboanga, government troops, backed by armoured troop carriers, exchanged gunfire with the rebels in Santa Catalina village, where the insurgents were holding some of their hostages, igniting a blaze that gutted about 30 houses. Two helicopters hovered as smoke billowed from the rebel-held coastal community.
The four-day crisis has virtually paralysed Zamboanga, a lively trading city of nearly a million people, with most flights and ferry services suspended. Areas near the clashes resembled a war zone, with armoured troop carriers lining streets, troops massing at a school and snipers taking positions on top of buildings. A mosque and its minaret were pockmarked with bullet holes.
More than 15,000 villagers have fled the fighting and many took shelter in schools and a grandstand in a seaside sports complex. Troops were under orders to prevent the rebels from straying beyond the communities they seized, or getting reinforcements, said Mar Roxas, the interior secretary.
The Moro rebels signed a peace deal in 1996, but their faction leader accuses the government of reneging on a promise to develop the impoverished and unsettled region.
The rebel leader, Nur Misuari, isolated himself when he voiced opposition to the continuing peace talks between the Philippines and the currently-dominant rebel movement, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
* Associated Press