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September 22, 2000, The Star [Malaysia] Hostage: Civilians the victims of military offensive in Jolo,

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September 22, 2000, The Star [Malaysia] Hostage: Civilians the victims of military offensive in Jolo,

KOTA KINABALU: Civilians are bearing the brunt of a Philippine military offensive against Abu Sayyaf gunmen on Jolo Island as the operations entered its sixth day yesterday, with no sign of a letup.

American hostage Jeffrey Schilling told a Zamboanga City radio station the military strike was mainly hurting remote villagers in Jolo and that the move could result in a backlash against the government.

"This operation will fail even if all Abu Sayyaf members are killed . . . there will be resistance and hostility to the government because of the actions towards the civilians,'' he said in a telephone call to the station late Wednesday night.

French TV journalist Jean-Jacques Le Garrec, who along with colleague Roger Madura, managed to escape from the Abu Sayyaf on Tuesday, [9/19] also described similar instances.

In Jolo, Sulu provincial medical officer Dr Nelsa Amin who has been appealing for a brief ceasefire said hundreds of villagers were casualties following military bombardments and ground assaults on the Abu Sayyaf positions.

She said these casualties were stranded in remote villages due to a tight military cordon within Patikul, Talipao and parts of Maimbung and Indanan. Other officials estimate that at least 12,000 people have been displaced over the past few days.

The cordon is also preventing medical workers from getting to the wounded, especially in Talipao and Patikul which have been the focus of the military offensive involving some 4,000 troops.

Doctors treating the wounded who had slipped past the military cordon said they were hearing complaints of soldiers maltreating the civilians.

Villagers from Talipao claimed that soldiers burned them with cigarettes and hit them with sticks.

A Philippine newspaper, the Daily Inquirer, quoted a rural health officer in Patikul as saying that hundreds of civilians were killed in the military assault.

In Zamboanga, security was heightened following an explosion on a passenger ferry on Wednesday which officials believe was the work of an Abu Sayyaf sympathiser.

Security officials also believe that some Abu Sayyaf gunmen, led by Abu Sabaya of Basilan, had managed to slip out of Jolo with Schilling last Sunday.

Apart from Schilling, the other 16 captives being held by the Abu Sayyaf include three Malaysians.

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