Rebels attack southern Philippine city

At least three killed and at least 20 civilians taken hostage by suspected Muslim rebels outside Zamboanga city.

Suspected Muslim rebels have attacked several villages on the outskirts of southern Philippine city of Zamboanga, the mayor of the city and military officials said.

At least three people, including a naval soldier, have been killed and at least 20 civilians have been taken hostage by the rebels, military officials said after the pre-dawn attack on Monday.

Army officials said they have secured hospitals and schools but clashes were still ongoing. The Philippine aviation authority has shut down the city's airport.

The navy men clashed with the suspected Moro National Liberation Front rebels, who were on board a large motorboat and eight smaller vessels off Rio Hondo, a crowded Muslim community in the port city of Zamboanga, military spokesman Lt Col Ramon Zagala said in a news conference.


'Human shield'

Zagala said that at least 20 hostages were being held as "human shield" by rebels numbering up to 300.

Claire Jose, a regional health officer in Zamboanga told Al Jazeeera that the city looked like a "ghost town" because of a widespread shutdown.


We are contained in our houses," Jose said.

Meanwhile, Abdul Sahrin, secretary general of the Moro National Liberation Front, blamed the faction of Nur Misuari for carrying out the attack. Misuari is the former MNLF leader, who previously entered into a peace agreement with the Philippine government


The pre-dawn clash later spilled into Rio Hondo as people slept, prompting scores of residents to flee and with rebels taking up the hostages to thwart government forces, officials said.

Reinforcement troops and police have been deployed to help secure Rio Hondo, which is located near the central Zamboanga, a bustling trading hub in the south.


Mayor Isabelle Climaco-Salazar ordered all schools and offices to remain closed.

"Their target is the City Hall. They want to raise their flag of independence at city hall," she told radio station DZBB on Monday.


Attack condemned

The Presidential spokesperson has condemned the attack, saying "it is incumbent on all people of goodwill to reject the violence that has erupted".

"The authorities are responding to the situation in a manner that will reduce the risk to innocent civilians and restore peace and order to Zamboanga City at the soonest possible time," Edwin Lacierda said in a statement.

The Moro group signed a 1996 peace accord with the government, but many of its fighters held on to their arms and accused officials of reneging on a promise to develop an autonomous region for minority Muslims in the south of the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines.

MNLF has said it was being left out in government's negotiations with another rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which broke away from the MNLF in the early 1980s.

The 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front has engaged the Philippine government in Malaysian-brokered peace talks, which have progressed recently towards a new Muslim autonomy deal.

A decades-old insurgency by Muslim rebels in the south has claimed about 150,000 lives.

US forces that have been providing training to Filipino troops for years are based in a Philippine military camp in Zamboanga city, but officials said the skirmishes have been confined so far to Rio Hondo, where at least one policeman was wounded in sporadic gunbattles.


http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-p...014907480.html