October 9, 2001, Manila Bulletin (Reuters) 21 Abu men killed; Zambo hotels bombed,

October 9, 2001, Manila Bulletin (Reuters) 21 Abu men killed; Zambo hotels bombed,

Zamboanga City, Oct. 9, 2001 (Reuters) - Fighting raged yesterday for a second day between Philippine troops and guerrillas linked to Islamic militant Osama bin Laden and officials said 21 rebels had been killed. In an apparent bid to ease military pressure on their forces on nearby Basilan island, suspected Abu Sayyaf militants set off small bombs in three hotels in Zamboanga City early yesterday, causing minor damage but no casualties, the military said.

The United States says Abu Sayyaf has links to the Saudi-born Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network, which it blames for the Sept. 11 aircraft attacks on New York City and Washington DC.

Police said they had found no connection between the Zamboanga bombings and the start on Sunday of a US-led military campaign against Afghanistan, whose Taliban rulers have been accused of sheltering bin Laden.

Twenty-one Abu Sayyaf gunmen have been killed and 21 other rebels and 17 soldiers have been wounded in the fighting on Basilan which began on Sunday, military reports said.

"It's a major gunbattle...It's still going on," a military spokesman said of the clashes on Basilan, 900 kilometers (560 miles) south of Manila. It is a mountainous, largely Muslim island about three times the size of Singapore.

Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya, interviewed on Manila radio station dzRH, accused the military of killing innocent civilians and threatened to poison the water supplies in the Basilan capital of Isabela and other areas.

"So that the battle will be fair, we will poison the water here in Isabela and in other towns in the Philippines. That is what we will do," Sabaya said. "We can do this even in Manila."

Military spokesmen could not be reached for comment but this was not the first time the group had made such a threat.

The fighting was the biggest encounter the government has had in months with Abu Sayyaf, which has held a US missionary couple and 16 Filipinos hostage for more than four months.

Asked by reporters if any hostages, particularly the Americans, had been sighted during the fighting, Armed Forces Southern Command (Southcom) chief Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu said "we have that report, but we will not disclose their exact location for operational purposes."

One of those seen by soldiers was "a woman about 35-years-old, fair-skinned, but wearing a Muslim dress and blue jeans," he said, declining to give further details.

Field officers said troops had also recovered a smashed human skull which could be that of a third American hostage whom the Abu Sayyaf claimed to have beheaded in June.

The skull, with its jaw missing, was found in the same area where soldiers last weekend found the skeletal remains of a man they suspected might be Californian tourist Guillermo Sobero, Col. Romeo Labrador said.

The bones were tested to establish their identity and US Embassy officials were due to fly to Zamboanga later on Monday to inspect them, officials said.

The fighting was taking place in a mangrove area and a coconut plantation near a coastal town of Basilan but heavy rains slowed the government advance on Monday.

The bad weather also prevented air force bombers and rocket-firing helicopter gunships, which pounded guerrilla positions on Sunday, from taking off and launching fresh strikes.

The fighting erupted after soldiers encountered about 100 guerrillas on a coastal village outside Isabela.

The Abu Sayyaf, which professes to fight for a Muslim homeland but pursues kidnap-for-ransom as its main activity, seized missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and Sobero, along with 17 Filipinos, from a tourist resort near Palawan island on May 27.

They brought the group to Basilan, where they took more hostages. The rebels later freed most of the original batch of captives in exchange for ransom, but beheaded some.

In Basilan

At least 21 more suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf Group were killed, while 17 soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) were seriously wounded as heavy fighting continued for the second day yesterday between the military and the bandits in Isabela, Basilan, reports reaching Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City said.

The number of slain Abu Sayyaf members has reached 21, the military reported.

Reports reaching Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, AFP chief of staff, said military commanders in Basilan expressed the belief that among those killed was a certain Commander Isnilon Japilon, an Abu Sayyaf leader who carried a P1- million reward for his death or capture.

Military authorities said heavy fighting between the two groups started last Sunday when members of the First Scout Ranger Battalion spotted a group of Abu Sayyaf terrorists in barangay Balatayan, Isabela, Basilan, last Sunday morning.

Citing field reports, Villanueva said Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadafy Janjalani and his right hand man, Abu Sabaya, were among those who figured in an encounter with Army troopers.

As of 2 p.m. yesterday, the number of fatalities of the Abu Sayyaf, based on the military's actual body count, has reached 21.

"We are expecting this figure to increase since we have launched relentless military operations against the Abu Sayaf," Villanueva said.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Southern Command based in Zamboanga City used three MG-520 attack helicopters in providing air support against the Abu Sayyaf group.

Army soldiers using 105- mm howitzers continued pounding suspected enemy positions to maintain pressure against the Abu Sayyaf.

Both Janjalani and Abu Sayyaf are still holding at least 19 kidnap victims, including American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham.

Military authorities, however, have yet to determine the fate of the other hostages.

CONDEMNED

Department of Tourism (DoT) officials yesterday condemned the bombing of several hotels in Zamboanga City, calling the attack "the last hurrah of the fading terrorist threat in Basilan and Sulu."

Top tourism officials believed the bombings were done by the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf to sow fear and confussion in Zamboanga City in time for the visit of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Thursday.

The bombings were also seen as a diversionary tactic of the bandit gang to divert military attention from the ongoing battle between military elements and the core group of the Abu Sayyaf in Isabela, Basilan.

Tourism Secretary Richard J. Gordon discounted the possibility the bombings were in retaliation for the air raids in Afghanistan by the United States and Britain, which began yesterday.

"We're almost over the hill now in our fight against the Abu Sayyaf. The military timetable of finishing off the Abu Sayyaf by November is realistic," he said.

The tourism chief is optimistic that with the destruction of Abu Sayyaf, the country's tourism industry will experience "a rebound in a month or two."