 Philippine Muslim Rebels Attack 2nd ProvinceGovernment troopers continue their assault on Muslim rebels, Sept. 12, 2013, in Zamboanga city in the southern Philippines. Muslim rebels have attacked a second province in the southern Philippines, not far from where they are engaged in a four day-long standoff with the military.
Firemen rush to put out a fire that razed several homes as government troopers continue their assault on Muslim rebels in Zamboanga, Philippines, Sept. 12, 2013. The MNLF has long pushed for greater autonomy in the mainly Muslim south, where more than 150,000 people have died during a four decade-long insurgency. 
Muslim militants were using 180 residents as "human shields" Tuesday, Philippine officials said, as they traded gunfire with troops amid burning houses during a standoff after a deadly attack on a southern city. Machinegun fire rang out in the deserted streets of Zamboanga as marines targeted fighters from the Moro National Liberation Front(MNLF) who stormed the city Monday intent on derailing peace talks. Several houses were ablaze but rebel sniper fire prevented fire trucks from nearing the scene. "We are scared. We just want this to end as soon as possible so we can get on with our lives," security technician Ed Laguatan told AFP as he cowered inside his house amid the barrage of gunfire. "We can see them (the rebels) just next door... It looks like they are ready to die fighting." The fighting began before dawn Monday as rebels stormed the city of one million people from nearby towns and islands, killing four and injuring 14. Naval commandos also killed seven MNLF members at sea on the same day as they tried to enter the city, Philippine Navy spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Gregory Fabic told AFP Tuesday. Military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Ramon Zagala said 180 MNLF gunmen armed with rifles and mortars were now surrounded by about 1,500 elite troops backed by a smaller number of police. But MNLF spokesman Emmanuel Fontanilla told DZMM radio that the rebels were prepared to dig in. "Our forces will stay where they are. They are on a defensive posture," he said. President Benigno Aquino refused to set a deadline for resolving the crisis. "We can't be giving deadlines when what we want to ensure is that no more civilians are affected, hurt or killed," he told reporters in Manila. Interior Secretary Mar Roxas told a news conference authorities were trying to negotiate with the gunmen. About 180 residents were being used as "human shields" in six districts where the rebels are holed up surrounded by security forces, he said. The government had described the people as "hostages" but Roxas said it appeared most were free to leave if they wished. "It appears that what happened is not hostage-taking but more of them being turned into human shields by the MNLF forces who entered their communities. People are free to get in and out of there, they are not bound, they are not detained," he said. "Whether they are hostages or not is still being validated," he added. Among them is local Catholic priest Father Michael Ofana, his father and a brother, said Zamboanga Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco Salazar. MNLF founder Nur Misuari had declared "independence" for the Muslim southern regions of the mainly Catholic Philippines on August 12, and called on his followers to besiege government installations. He could not be reached Tuesday by AFP, nor by government negotiators. A mid-afternoon fire that gutted several houses was left to burn after fire trucks were stopped by security forces who warned them about sniper fire, said city fire marshal Dominador Zabala. "We could not go much closer as there was no go-signal from the ground forces in the area," he said, adding they suspected the rebels of setting the blaze. The fighting has displaced about 1,500 residents of the mainly Muslim districts, including women and children who were forced to spend the night sleeping on the floor of crowded gyms after fleeing the conflict. Misuari has criticised a preliminary peace deal signed last year by the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which split from the MNLF in 1978. He said the agreement marginalised his group and a peace treaty that it signed in 1996. The gunmen launched their attack as the government prepared to resume peace talks with the MILF, aimed at ending a 42-year-old rebellion that has claimed 150,000 lives. It was the second such attack on Zamboanga since 2001, when Misuari's men men also took dozens of hostages and left many more dead, but were given safe passage out of the city by freeing their captives. Misuari fled to Malaysia, where he was arrested and deported, and was kept in police prisons in Manila until the government dropped all charges against him in 2008. Muslim rebel clashes spread to second southern Philippine islandViolence intensifies in southern Philippines
By Erik de Castro ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines | Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:12am EDT (Reuters) - Fighting between security forces and rogue Muslim rebels seeking to declare an independent state escalated in a southern Philippine city on Thursday and spread to a second island, officials said. U.S.-trained commandos exchanged gunfire with a breakaway faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) holding dozens of hostages in Zamboanga City, on the southernmost island of Mindanao, army spokesman Domingo Tutaan said. The violence illustrates the security challenge potential investors face in the impoverished south of the majority Roman Catholic country despite a strong nationwide economic performance in the second quarter. It also raises questions about the strength of a peace deal agreed last October with a larger Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, to end four decades of conflict that killed 120,000 people and displaced two million in the resource-rich region. The Muslim Moro make up the largest non-Christian group in the Philippines, at around 10 percent of a total 97 million Filipinos. Many houses were on fire on Thursday as soldiers retook a district that rebels occupied for three days, a Reuters witness said. Loud explosions and sporadic gunfire were heard as rebels shelled government positions. Troops also made house-to-house searches after expelling rebels for possible booby-traps, moving cautiously to avoid sniper fire. Officials said security forces suffered no casualties. They did not know about rebel casualties. The violence spread to the smaller island of Basilan where soldiers fought for nearly two hours before turning back 150 gunmen even as troops shelled MNLF bases, Tutaan said. "We don't want any civilian casualties," Tutaan told a news conference in Manila. "... (we) want that this incident in Zamboanga to be resolved immediately or as soon as possible." Three soldiers were killed and nine wounded in the Basilan battle, he added. Zamboanga Mayor Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said she had opened a communication line with MNLF founder and breakaway faction leader Nur Misuari, appealing to him to free hostages, particularly women and children. The standoff has paralyzed Zamboanga with as many as 170 civilians believed to be trapped, if not physically held hostage. Schools and offices were closed for the fourth day, but some shops and banks reopened. Flights and ferry services were also suspended. Nearly 13,000 people have been displaced in five districts of the port, known as the city of flowers. | Muslim Rebels Attack Philippine TownsA deadly attack by a Muslim separatist group in Zamboanga City, on the Philippine island of Mindanao, has evolved into a tense hostage crisis, while two other Muslim rebel groups staged separate attacks in neighboring towns. Starting early on Monday, hundreds of armed Moro National Liberation Front rebels, enraged by a failed peace deal with the Philippine government, landed on the coast of Zamboanga, with a reported goal of capturing the City Hall. Philippine Armed Forces responded, killing at least 14, and encircling the rebels, who have taken nearly 200 hostages to use as human shields. As the standoff in Zamboanga reached a fourth day, a separate, possibly unrelated attack took place on the neighboring island of Basilan, where approximately 150 members of two smaller Muslim rebel groups clashed with government forces, wounding three. Philippine government troops continue their assault on members of the Muslim rebel Moro National Liberation Front in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, on September 12, 2013. Philippine troops battled Muslim rebels on two fronts Thursday, after extremists attacked a second city near the southern port where militants have been holding scores of residents hostage in a four-day standoff with government forces. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Fresh troops arrive as reinforcements, continuing an assault on Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # Residents, believed to be hostages, wave white sheets as they shout at troops to halt their operation in the continuing standoff with Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 11, 2013. About 200 Muslim rebels, enraged by a broken peace deal with the Philippine government, are holding scores of hostages as human shields in a continuing standoff with government forces for the third day with no solution in sight. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # Government soldiers take cover during a firefight with Muslim rebels from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. Fighting between security forces and rogue Muslim rebels seeking to declare an independent state escalated and spread to a second island, officials said. U.S.-trained commandos exchanged gunfire with a breakaway faction of the MNLF holding dozens of hostages in Zamboanga City, on the southernmost island of Mindanao. (Reuters/Erik De Castro) # Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels, one of them injured, lie on the ground after they were captured at a military checkpoint in downtown Zamboanga, on September 11, 2013. (Reuters/Erik De Castro) # A weapon concealed in a bag of rice carried by an MNLF rebel lies on a road after the rebel was captured at a military checkpoint in downtown Zamboanga, on September 11, 2013. (Reuters/Erik De Castro) # Paramedics carry a wounded MNLF rebel on a stretcher, after he was captured at a checkpoint in downtown Zamboanga, on September 11, 2013. (Reuters/Erik De Castro) # Villagers use boats to flee the current standoff between Government troops and Muslim rebels at the southern port city of Zamboanga, on September 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # Residents living near the area of a stand-off between the Philippine military and Muslim gunmen in Zamboanga, in dozens of boats after evacuating the city's boulevards, along the coast on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, on September 11, 2013.(Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) # Government forces man the port at sunset as about 200 Muslim rebels, enraged by a broken peace deal with the Philippine government, hold scores of hostages as human shields in a continuing standoff with government forces at the southern port city of Zamboanga, on September 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # A Philippine soldier mans a machine gun inside an armored personnel carrier during a firefight between government forces and Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) # A sniper of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force aims his rifle at the Muslim mosque with its minaret full of pockmarks during a standoff with Muslim rebels, on September 10, 2013, in Zamboanga. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # A policeman uses a mirror to scan the positions of Moro National Liberation Front snipers in Zamboanga, where security forces are battling hundreds of rebels who are holding dozens of civilian hostages, on September 10, 2013. (Reuters/Stringer) # Government soldiers pray prior to taking their position as the stand-off enter its fourth day in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) # Government troops continue their assault on Muslim rebels, on September 12, 2013, in Zamboanga City.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # Government troops fire their weapons at Muslim rebels positions in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # A Philippine soldier guides a fire truck to burning houses during a firefight between government forces and Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) # Residents attempt to extinguish the flames from burning houses, caused by a firefight between government soldiers and Muslim rebels in a residential district in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (Reuters/Erik De Castro) # Residents rush to save their belongings as fire continues to raze several homes while government troops continued an assault on Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # A partially burned cat runs away from burning houses during a firefight between government forces and Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) # A man throws water on a burning house in a residential district, where a fire broke out after a clash between government soldiers and Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (Reuters/Erik De Castro) # A resident holds his head as a fire razes several homes during a firefight in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # A Philippine soldier fires his M-16 rifle at rebel snipers as another soldier covers his ears during a firefight between government forces and Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) # Members of the Philippine national police special forces take cover as they move on enemy positions among burning houses during a firefight in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) # Firemen rush to put out a fire that razed dozens of structures during a government assault on members of the Muslim rebel Moro National Liberation Front in Zamboanga city, southern Philippines, on September 12, 2013. Philippine troops battled Muslim rebels on two fronts on Thursday, after about 150 extremists attacked a second city near the southern port where militants have been holding scores of residents hostage in a four-day standoff with government forces. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) | 2 |
Basilan, Philippines
Basilan Island is about 30 kilometers from the key port city of Zamboanga, where about 200 MNLF fighters have taken scores of civilians hostage since Monday.
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