113 Dead as Military Hits Muslim Strongholds in South Philippines

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 22, 2001

113 Dead as Military Hits Muslim Strongholds in South Philippines

The Philippine military aircraft bombed strongholds of renegade Muslim leader Nur Misuari for the third straight day Wednesday, as the death toll rose to 113, including 13 government troopers.

The Philippine military aircraft bombed strongholds of renegade Muslim leader Nur Misuari for the third straight day Wednesday, as the death toll rose to 113, including 13 government troopers.

The military said at least 10,000 residents on the southern island of Sulu were displaced by the fighting, but it wanted to capture Misuari, dead or alive, an on-line report of the Philippine Daily Inquirer said Thursday.

Misuari, outgoing governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslin Mindanao (ARMM), also the founder and former leader of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), might have been wounded in an air strike on Tuesday.

Armed followers of Misuari mounted a fresh rebellion on Monday on the southern island of Sulu, in a bid to stop the ARMM elections on November 26, in which, Misuari will obviously be throw out of power.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had given Misuari 48 hours until Thursday to surrender, but proceed on Wednesday to order a rebellion case filed against Misuari and an arrest warrant served.

The report said the president will visit the southern city of Zamboanga on Friday after her nine-day working visit to the United States and Mexico and campaign for government candidates ahead of Monday's elections in the ARMM.

About eight Army and Marine battalions, consisting some 4,000 soldiers, are pursuing Misuari and his 400 to 600 fighters on Sulu island. The Philippine navy has stationed gunships in Mindanao Sea to prevent the rebels from fleeing to Malaysia.

Misuari, together with the MNLF founded in 1972, had been fighting for an independent Muslim state in the southern Philippines until he signed a peace agreement with the national government in 1996.

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