4 Hostages Die During Clash in Philippines

Four hostages were found dead Wednesday--shot execution-style and some mutilated--after Muslim rebels holding 27 captives stumbled across Philippine troops by a river crossing and both sides opened fire.

Many of the hostages were children seized from a school. Fifteen children and teachers were rescued after the gunfight in Basilan province, but military officials said others were taken by the fleeing Abu Sayyaf rebels.

Earlier Wednesday, rebel leaders holding a separate group of 21 hostages on neighboring Jolo island had said that two of their foreign captives died during a clash with troops. But the military said it had no knowledge that any of the hostages--who include 10 foreign tourists--had been killed.

The Jolo hostages, who include tourists from Germany, France, South Africa, Finland and Lebanon, were kidnapped April 23 from a Malaysian diving resort.

The clashes came during a chaotic day of attacks in the southern Philippines. Another rebel group claimed responsibility for bombings that left at least four dead and dozens wounded in several towns. It was the worst recent outbreak of violence linked to the rebel groups fighting for a separate Islamic state in the southern Mindanao region, home to the country’s Muslim minority.

In Basilan on Wednesday, soldiers came upon the rebels at a river crossing and screamed to the hostages, “Drop to the ground, and don’t run away,” said Regardo Gregorio, one of the rescued children. He said they dropped down, and the soldiers and rebels began firing.

There was no official word on who killed the four hostages, identified as a priest and three teachers, two of whom were women. But there were indications that their captors were responsible. A priest who saw the bodies said they had been shot at close range in the head. Several, including the female teachers, had apparently been hacked on their bodies and arms, the Rev. Martin Jumoad said.

Five of the rescued hostages were injured, one seriously.

The Basilan hostages, mostly children, were among about 50 people seized by the rebels March 20 for use as human shields. The rebels later freed some captives, but they claimed to have beheaded two male teachers two weeks ago. That claim led the military to launch an assault on the rebels’ stronghold.

Elsewhere in the southern Philippines, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the explosions that killed at least four.

A bomb concealed with plastic exploded in a fishing port, killing two people and seriously injuring at least 20, an official said. Almost simultaneously, a bomb inside a taxi exploded in front of a municipal building, killing one woman, and a bomb outside a second building killed one man and injured 10, he said.