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 | Tuesday, May 02, 2000, updated at 10:55(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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Philippine Troops May Use Tear Gas to Rescue HostagesPhilippine government troops are reportedly preparing Sunday to shoot tear gas into a tunnel in a Abu Sayyaf rebel stronghold in a last ditch effort to rescue at least 27 hostages held captive for a month.The local ABS-CBN television quoted an army official as saying that government troops are guarding the entries to the tunnel, where some rebels fled after government forces overran the rebel group's stronghold in Basilan. But the official said that government troops are unsure how many hostages and rebels may be inside the tunnel where they plan to use tear gas. Fierce fighting has continued in the area since about 15,00 troops began attacking the camp on Mount Puno Mahajid eight days ago to rescue the hostages, mostly children seized from two schools in Basilan in March, the television said. Earlier in the day, National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre said in a radio interview that the government troops have occupied the stronghold of the extremist group Abu Sayyaf and are now looking for at least 27 civilians the group has kept hostages for more than a month. "They (government troops) are thinking of the hostages of the Abu Sayyaf. They are very cautious in their movements," he said. Aguirre said that government troops have occupied the hill where the rebel group had established as its headquarters and they are looking for the hostages. He also disclosed that 10 soldiers were killed and some 50 wounded in the week-long rescue operations. Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado told a press conference Saturday night that the rescue operations are now at the last stage. But government forces found no trace of the 27 hostages when they reached the peak of the mountain stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf in Sumisip, Basilan, Friday, after a day-long fierce gunbattle. There are reports that the Abu Sayyaf rebels have secret tunnels in the area which they used to escape during the heavy bombardment and air strikes by the military. On March 20, the Abu Sayyaf, which means "Father of the Executioner"in Arabic, took away more than 50 people from two schools in Basilan as human shield after attacking a government army post. Later, they held 29 of them as hostages and freed the rest. On April 19, the rebels claimed to have beheaded two male hostages because both Manila and Washington rejected their demands for the release of their two comrades and three terrorists jailed in the United States, including Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. The rebels ' claim prompted the military rescue operations.
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