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| Southeast Asia |
| JI members also being held in Filippino jail |
| 2005-03-14 |
| Up to six people were killed Monday in a bloody jailbreak attempt by a number of Filipino Muslim militants from Al Qaeda-linked groups, police said. Gunfire rang out at the Camp Bagong Diwa prison as police special weapons and tactics units, some inside an armored personnel carrier, surrounded one building in the compound where the armed Abu Sayyaf prisoners were holed up on the second floor. The inmates had overpowered their guards and grabbed two assault rifles and a handgun in an early morning melee, said Metropolitan Manila police chief Avelino Razon. Police spokesman Jun Cruz said "more or less eight to 10 inmates" may have been involved in the escape attempt. Some 100 other prisoners were held on the other floors of the building, Superintendent Cruz said. "They (gunmen) are confined in one building. They cannot go out," he added. "We are trying to defuse the situation. We have deployed snipers and a negotiating team," Razon said. Cruz told reporters three jail guards and one prisoner had been killed two hours into the standoff. Shooting subsided by mid-morning as the authorities used bullhorns to try to convince the gunmen to surrender. Other police sources however put the death toll at six including four Abu Sayyaf inmates and two prison guards. The sources said a prisoner and a jail guard were wounded. An AFP photographer at the scene saw two casualties, both wearing the uniforms of prison guards, being taken out on stretchers and loaded onto ambulances. Other inmates at the prison called up a local radio station in a bid to open negotiations with the authorities. They claimed the gunmen were holding about 100 inmates hostage, including Chinese held on drugs charges. But police dismissed the hostage report, saying the armed prisoners have been isolated in one section of the compound and the other prisoners were secured. "We are negotiating with the suspects inside," Cruz said, adding that the gunmen wanted to hold talks with two prominent Muslim personalities, including movie actor and Muslim convert Robin Padilla and southern Philippines Muslim legislator Mujib Hataman. Padilla was abroad and efforts were being made to reach Hataman, Cruz said. The legislator said on local radio earlier Monday that he did not know the gunmen. The shooting was the latest in a series of jailbreak attempts involving detained Muslim militants in the Philippines capital. The prison, located in the headquarters of the Metropolitan Manila police, holds suspects arrested for terrorism-related cases including Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah militants. UPDATE: MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A group of Muslim-extremist inmates at a maximum-security jail in Manila agreed to surrender Monday, a day after they snatched weapons from guards in an escape attempt that left at least five people dead, police said. Police surrounded the facility at Manila's Camp Bagong Diwa, where 425 suspects are detained, including 129 suspected members and leaders of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group. "There was some delay because they feared for their safety," said Avelino Razon, police chief for the Manila area. "But they changed their minds and they've agreed to come out." Mujib Hataman, a Muslim congressman who was negotiating with the inmates by telephone, said the prisoners demanded assurances they wouldn't be harmed, speedy trials and the right to air their grievances to authorities, he said Police spokesman Leopoldo Bataoil, who warned of a major assault if the inmates didn't surrender their weapons, said about 10 men were involved in the uprising, led by Abu Sayyaf members Alhamzer Manatad Limbong and Kair Abdul Gapar. At least three guards were killed, said police Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. Two Abu Sayyaf members also were killed, police said. The jailbreak came on the day the new national police chief took office. "We are fast becoming the world's laughingstock because of what has been happening in our jails," said Sen. Manny Villar, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Illegal Drugs. Still More: March 14, 2005 11:26 PM - The stand off in Camp Bagong Diwa that left three jailguards and two prisoners dead continues Monday evening as the Abu Sayyaf inmates changed plans of surrendering to the negotiating team. Deputy Director General Avelino Razon of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said the Abu Sayyaf inmates instead asked for food as precondition for surrendering the three .45 pistols that they took from three jailguards. But Razon said they will give the inmates led by Alhamser Limbang known as Commander Kosovo their dinner only after their surrender. He also said they are now becoming doubtful of the inmates' sincerity to surrender saying that the suspects could only be prolonging the negotiation. Among the negotiating team for the police are Reps. Mujiv Hataman, Allan Cayetano, ARMM Governor Farouk Hussin, and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes. Razon said that all media entities are on stand by for the inmates' surrender. The suspects initially demanded that they be given media exposure after their surrender to air their side and defend themselves from the charges. They also want the police to assure their safety after their surrender and they also want a Razon nevertheless said he believed inmates will surrender before the day ends because the government have been sincere in granting the demands. He did not mention any plans to effect an assault to end the stand off. But reports reaching abs-cbnNEWS.com said the government negotiators have already left the BJMP building, which should indicate that the authorities are preparing for an assault as of posting time. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Bring in a tank and level the place. Screw them. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet O’ Doom 2005-03-14 7:01:29 AM |