Rebels Cling to Positions in Manila : Coup: Mutiny holdouts in hotels, high-rises say they will free foreigners on Tuesday.

Rebel soldiers positioned in hotels and high-rises fired on government troops in the Makati financial district today, refusing to end a 4-day-old mutiny and trapping hundreds of people in homes and hotel rooms.

A rebel spokesman said trapped foreigners will be freed Tuesday but he said this does not mean the mutineers are giving up their fight to oust President Corazon Aquino.

“We pledged our lives to this cause. We will hold the line to the last drop of our blood,” said the spokesman, Capt. Alfred Yen.

Two bombs exploded in the city, injuring two people. It was unclear if they were related to the coup attempt, which began Friday and has killed at least 70 people.

Hundreds of Americans and other foreigners were pinned down in homes and hotels in the Makati district, where forces loyal to Aquino contained the mutineers to 22 buildings.

Rebels shot at anyone venturing outside.

“Literally, we’re in the middle,” said Barbara Julich, a New York businesswoman trapped in the Intercontinental Hotel. “(We’re) now low on food. There are babies in the building, and there is no baby food, and the mothers are hysterical.

“We saw a group of nuns trying to walk where the tanks are. They were eventually shot at and took cover.”

U.S. Embassy spokesman Jerry Huchel said about 215 Americans are believed trapped in three hotels in the wealthy district. An undetermined number of others are believed trapped in luxury apartments.

At least three people were reported slain in Makati today and 15 wounded, including one American, by rebel snipers and in fighting between rebel and loyalist forces.

Earlier, spokesmen for the Makati Medical Center said 10 people were killed.

Hospital sources identified the American wounded as Jerome Weissburg, who they said was hit in the arm by glass when a bullet shattered the window of his room at the Peninsula Hotel. They did not know his hometown.

Yen telephoned news organizations in Manila and said foreigners will be free to leave hotels at 10 a.m. Tuesday, to dispel any ideas they are being held hostage.

The foreigners will be taken to Manila’s airport aboard shuttle buses, Yen said.

Government troops forced the surrender of more than 600 rebels on Sunday, and Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos said the coup attempt had been crushed but that it would take several days to complete “mopping up operations.”

About 400 rebels are still occupying Mactan Air Base in Cebu, 350 miles south of Manila. Their leader refused to give up and threatened to blow up the base’s planes.