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| Friday, 25 April 2003 |
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Muslim rebels take policemen, bus passengers hostage PAGADIAN, Philippines, Thursday (AFP) Muslim separatists attacked a town in the southern Philippines on Thursday, killing at least two people and taking several policemen and bus passengers hostage, the military said. A commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said in a radio interview that his forces attacked Kulambugan town in the southern island of Mindanao and shot up a passenger bus, killing two people. Abdulrahman Macapaar, known as Commander Bravo, said they attacked the bus after it allegedly refused to stop at their checkpoint. He admitted that his forces wounded a large number of people aboard the bus and were holding several hostages in Kulambugan town, located 760 kilometers (471 miles) from Manila. He warned the military not to attack his positions to avoid harming the hostages. Regional military commander Colonel Ernesto Boac said the MILF had killed one person and had taken several hostages, including some policemen in the town. Traffic on the highway passing the town was halted due to the attacks. Macapaar claimed his forces had also blown up a bridge in Kulambangan, near the western city of Pagadian in Mindanao island. "Our purpose of staging these series of attacks starting today is to cripple the country's economy," he said. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu confirmed that Macapaar's attack had been ordered by the rebel leadership in retaliation for military offensives against the rebels. But he denied that any hostages had been taken, saying that Macapaar may have been "misquoted." "The MILF is involved here. We do not deny that," Kabalu told AFP. The 12,500-strong MILF has been fighting for an independent Islamic state in the southern third of the Philippines since 1978. The guerillas went on a rampage - firing mortars and burning and looting houses- during a brief visit by President Gloria Arroyo to the troubled south. |
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