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dozens of people held hostage by Muslim rebels waging deadly street battles with
Philippine troops escaped on Tuesday amid a military offensive
but the guerrillas kidnapped the city's police chief
authorities said 61 people have died and 70,000 residents displaced since the
standoff in the southern city of Zamboanga began more than a week ago
when hundreds of moral National Liberation Front
and I left gunman sought to plant in independence flag
hundreds of other civilians had remained trapped as the rebels salt shelter from
a military assault in Muslim neighborhoods of the city
with some of the residents used as hostages all human shields
after relentless military offensive involving helicopter rocket attacks
which began on Friday and saw the rebels lose much of the territory they had
occupied
149 people escaped on Monday night and Tuesday morning
authorities said the shell-shocked men
women and children with tearfully reunited away from the front lines with
their relatives
who had waited in anguish for days I couldn't sleep
I couldn't eat all I thought about was my little boy and my family
say the 28-year-old hotel employee is he in his rescued family members in brace
tightly
my son my father another cousins nephews were taken hostage
it was nearly too much to bear the man
who did not want his name published for security reasons
and his wife left example and get 3 months ago to work in the United States
but we turned when they learned to their relatives had been taken hostage
the military said earlier on Tuesday they were continuing to clear internet
left forces from to coastal villages where the main fighting had reached
military spokesman left end and colonel richmond's a gala said the military had
taken back seventy percent
rebel positions and sealed escape routes but about 100 emina left fighters was
still resisting
he said and it remained unclear how many civilians was still trapped or being
held hostage
and in an embarrassing setback example and the police chief Senior
Superintendent kick ito Miley who was kidnapped on Tuesday morning
Miley who was with three of his men in a marsh land area seeking to block the
rebels from fleeing but were instead overpowered and taken
according to his logistics officer this is an unfortunate incident that
underlines the volatility in the area
military spokesman Brigadier General Domingo tu ta
confirmed you FP 51 internal FAA battles and six security forces have died in the
battles
according to the military four civilians have also died including a 2-year-old
who authorities said was a hostage
the fighting has shut down zamboanga a city of one million people that is one
of the main trading centers in the southern Philippines
Muslim rebels have been fighting since the nineteen seventies for an
independent war autonomous homeland in the south of the mainly Catholic
Philippines
an estimated 150,000 people have died in the conflict
the MNLF signed a peace treaty in 1996 that granted limited self-rule to the
South's Muslim minority
and has since largely participated in the country's political process rather
than foment violence
not 71-year-old emina left found a new all missile airy has been angered by
plan peace deal between the moral Islamic Liberation Front
males a rival group with 12,000 gunman
as he believes it would sideline his organization
he deployed his government is ample and get a plant in independence flag
with security analyst said was intended to show the MNLF could prove a major
threat if it continued to feel ignored
president in nineteen oh Aquino has described the Autonomous Region
established under the 1996 pact with the MNLF a
failed experiment largely because the southern Philippines has continued to
you in your diet poverty and corruption
I'm to the embassy to new peace deal i'm new autonomous region would replace the
MNLF broken one
the rival milf would have most control if the new autonomous region in the
potential riches on offer if large mineral deposits in the area's first
I'll farming regions are exploited
end