OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 7.10pm.
PHILIPPINE troops stormed a Muslim rebel stronghold on Friday, where it is thought 27 hostages, including two South African tourists, are being held.
Amidst fierce fighting soldiers found shallow graves believed to contain the bodies of about 20 Abu Sayyaf rebels. However the hostages were not found. The stronghold is on Jolo island, in the Sulu Sea, 960 km south of the Philippine capital Manila.
Reports said more bodies are believed to be hidden in a netweork of foxholes, bunkers and tunnels. Abu Sayyaf members were seen disappearing into the hills carrying their dead or wounded.
Meanwhile a man identifying himself as Carel Strydon, one of the South African hostages, urged the international community on Friday to pressure Manila to stop the military assault on rebel bases.
The man said in a call to local radio station RMN DXRZ: ”In the name of the hostages I would like to make an urgent request to the UN, OIC (Organisation of the Islamic Conference) to write to the Philippine government to stop all military action in the Mindanao area, especially in Sulu and Basilan. This is in the interests of the safety of the hostages.”
Six heavily armed gunmen seized the hostages on Malaysia’s Sipadan Island off Borneo on Sunday and fled with them to the southern Philippines.
The hostages are 10 Malaysians, three Germans, two French, two South Africans, two Finns, one Lebanese and a Filipino.
A Filipino Moslem leader said on Thursday that the 10 Malaysians were to have been released but a boat due to take them home broke down.
Abu Sayyaf guerrillas are fighting for an independent state.
Nur Misuari, a former guerrilla leader who is now governor of a semi-autonomous Moslem region in the southern Philippines, said the Malaysian government did not want a separate negotiation for its nationals.
Meanwhile the South African government said it will do all it can to ensure the safe release of the two South African hostages.
Threats to behead the foreigners among the captives have not been communicated to the government, foreign ministry spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said on Friday. –Reuters