Philippine Prison Standoff Ends; 5 Hostages Die

Troops rushed a Philippine prison Tuesday and shot to death 16 convicts who had been holding members of a religious group hostage for three days. Five hostages, including a 9-year-old boy, were killed.

Officials decided to storm the prison after some of the 15 hostages escaped and told them the would-be escapees had killed other captives.

“We were not . . . dealing with reasonable people,” said Justice Undersecretary Silvestre Bello, who was involved in negotiations with the captors. “We had to authorize a military operation, especially since there was an urgent need to save the five living hostages.”

The attack began about 3 p.m. Troops rushed forward firing automatic weapons and secured the downtown jail in Davao, 610 miles southeast of Manila, after about 40 minutes, witnesses and officials said. Officials said no hostages were killed in the military assault.

Hostages as Shields

A few hours earlier, the convicts had tried to escape by using hostages as shields. During the confusion, a captive was killed, and five others fled. They told police four other hostages had been slain. The dead, besides the 9-year-old boy, included a 16-year-old female hostage and Australian missionary Jacqueline Hamill, 36, who had been in Davao a month.

All of the hostages were members of the Joyful Assemblies of God, a Protestant group.

The standoff began Sunday at the Metropolitan District Command Center in Davao. Bello said inmates overpowered a guard during a Bible session at the prison and then looted weapons from an armory.

Police said most of the inmates had escaped in April from the Davao Penal Colony and seized several hostages to protest conditions at the prison.

The leader of the convicts was identified as Mohammed Naser Samparani, a former air force soldier convicted of murder.