Freed Captives in Philippines Tell of Rebel Abuse

Former hostages who were among the 27 children and teachers held by Muslim rebels told of spending six weeks in half-buried, windowless rooms on a mountaintop before 15 of them were rescued in a hail of bullets.

The Philippine hostages were tortured by their rebel captors, and at least four were killed. They often ate only one meal a day, according to accounts from freed captives Thursday.

“We were treated like pigs,” said Renaldo Rubio, a teacher.

He and other former hostages spoke a day after Philippine troops stumbled upon the rebels and captives and managed to free nine children and six teachers. The rebels fled with the remaining captives.

Abu Sayyaf rebels fighting to form an independent state in the southern Philippines seized the teachers, students and a Roman Catholic priest on the southern island of Basilan on March 20.

The priest and three others were found shot after the troops’ confrontation with the rebels Wednesday.

Until the rebel stronghold was overrun by troops last weekend, the hostages were held in two boxlike rooms made from wooden planks.

The rebels led the hostages out of the camp Saturday as soldiers approached. Each night they walked barefoot along mountain trails, resting during the day.

When they were spotted Wednesday by the military less than three miles from Isabela, Basilan’s capital, the children were walking in front, followed by the adult hostages with the rebels in the rear. The rebels began firing into the backs of the adults, killing four, the survivors said.

Troops were pursuing the rebels Thursday in hopes of rescuing the remaining hostages, Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said.

On neighboring Jolo island, other Abu Sayyaf rebels are holding a separate group of 21 hostages, including 10 foreign tourists, kidnapped April 23 from a Malaysian diving resort.

A radio station reported Thursday that two of the foreign hostages had managed to escape Wednesday. Rebels searching for them later clashed with soldiers, and one guerrilla commander was killed, it said.

Authorities could not confirm the hostage escape or a rebel claim Wednesday that two foreign captives died in an earlier clash.