Government forces failed to attack six rebel-occupied Muslim-dominated villages in Zamboanga, southern Philippines.
They, however, succeeded in preventing rebel intrusion in Zamboanga City, now paralysed after Filipino-Muslim rebel leaders renewed an armed struggle, following a founding rebel leader’s claim that government negotiators refused to review the implementation of a pro-autonomy peace accord that their group signed with the Philippine government in 1996.
Explaining the military’s mission in the standoff that began since Monday, Armed Forces information chief Lieutenant-Colonel Ramon Zagala said: “Our troops return fire. We are not launching an offensive. Our mission is to contain them (the Moro National Liberation Front fighters), not to rescue their hostages (at Kasanyangan, Mampang, Sta. Barbara, Sta. Catalina, and Talon-Talon villages).”