DATE=5/18/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=PHILIPPINES / BOMBS (S-L)
NUMBER=2-262514
BYLINE=KONRAD MULLER
DATELINE=MANILA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A series of explosions have killed at least
five and wounded scores of others in the strife-torn
southern Philippines. Konrad Muller reports from
Manila, the violence is near where Islamic rebels are
holding 21 mostly foreign hostages.
TEXT: Three grenades exploded in a crowded public
market in Jolo City after midday. Police say many of
the victims were shop owners.
About the same time, a bomb exploded inside a bread
shop in nearby Zamboanga on the main southern island
of Mindanao.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for either
attack. Police suspect the Abu Sayyaf extremist
Muslim rebel group.
The rebels are holding 21 mainly foreign hostages on
impoverished Jolo Island. /// OPT /// - an insurgent
stronghold, about one-thousand kilometers south of
Manila.
/// OPT /// A second larger Muslim separatist group,
the Moro Islamic Liberation Front was also recently
blamed for lethal bombings in General Santos, a
largely Christian city in the troubled Philippine
south. The Front has been at the center of intense
hostilities with the Philippine army that have left
hundreds dead or injured since April.
Meanwhile, formal talks between government negotiators
and the Abu Sayyaf on ending the nearly month-old
hostage crisis did not begin (Thursday) as hoped.
Officials say that negotiations are now expected to
start Friday. /// END OPT ///
Earlier this week, the rebels issued a manifesto
explaining their aim is to create a separate Islamic
state in the region - something the Philippine
government has ruled out.
NEB/HK/KM/GC/JO/RAE
18-May-2000 07:43 AM EDT (18-May-2000 1143 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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