LAMITAN, Philippines — Aided by a bloody surprise attack, Muslim extremists escaped from a hospital where they were besieged by government troops and fled into the jungle on a southern Philippine island with several hostages, including three Americans, the military said.
About 60 Abu Sayyaf rebels used hostages as human shields to escape the hospital on Basilan island when 100 other guerrillas attacked soldiers from a nearby jungle, inflicting heavy casualties, said military spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan.
"Fresh terrorist troops under cover of darkness used diversionary tactics to distract the troops," Adan said. He said his men limited their fire for fear of hitting hostages, who included three Americans seized a week ago along with 17 Filipinos at a resort 280 miles away across the Sulu Sea.
With hostages in tow, the rebels eluded a massive search until they clashed with army forces in the rugged jungles of Basilan Friday. The fighting then spread to the streets of Lamitan, a town on the island, where rebels took over the hospital Saturday.
The military said 12 soldiers were killed since the fighting began, including an army captain in an armored personnel carrier hit by a rocket launcher, and dozens were wounded. Witnesses also reported guerrilla and civilian casualties.
Nine of the 20 hostages seized from the resort on Palawan island in the western Philippines escaped over the weekend. Adan said the other 11, including the three Americans, were with rebels on Basilan island, 560 miles south of the capital, Manila.
He said the Abu Sayyaf also abducted a doctor, his wife and others when the rebels invaded the hospital Saturday, but he said the army also rescued 10 fishermen Saturday who were abducted by the Abu Sayyaf from various islands in the past week.
"There were no reports of any of the hostages held being injured. We don't know where they are going." Adan said. He said troops were chasing the guerrillas on the island, two miles wide and three miles long.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo repeated her no-ransom policy Sunday.
"We will negotiate for their unconditional release, but no ransom. Negotiation is always part of military action, to convince them the alternative is worse," he said. "Die now or face due process later."
A priest who escaped from the hospital Sunday said the Abu Sayyaf kept him in a room with three Americans, who have been identified as missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham, longtime Philippine residents from of Wichita, Kan., and Guillermo Sobero, of Corona, Calif.
The priest, Father Rene Enriquez, 39, said Gracia Burnham approached him and asked him to pray for the hostages so that they would be saved.
"Her voice was shaking," Enriquez said. "I saw fear in their faces."
Other hostages who escaped Sunday said they were in constant terror.
"We lived from explosion to explosion, fearing the next one would kill us all," said Aurora Samson, 60, a teacher. "It was a nightmare. Because of the volume of gunfire, I thought there would be no tomorrow."
She said she and her grandfather were with 27 others in a single room, hiding under beds and huddled on the urine-soaked floor of a bathroom.
Teresa Ganzon, a hostages from the resort who escaped Sunday, appealed to the government to negotiate the release of her captive colleagues.
"I'm appealing to the government to stop the military operation and look for another solution to the problem. The hostages will have a hard time because they know nothing about the jungle," Ganzon said.
Alton Angeles, a former town councilor in Lamitan, said fighting around the hospital raged until about 3 a.m. Sunday and then stopped.
"It subsided and when the sun went up and smoke cleared the rebels were no longer there," Angeles said. He said he saw four dead bodies around the hospital.
"I warned the army last night to watch out because they will be able to slip through the cordon," Akbar told RMN radio Sunday. "I can see the morale of the Abu Sayyaf group is very high, and the morale of the soldiers very weak."
Rolly Adars, a Lamitan resident who was in the hospital when the Abu Sayyaf rebels seized it, said he escaped out a door along with six children. He said he saw a tall American man, guarded by guerrillas with rifles and grenade launchers.
The Abu Sayyaf, which claims to be fighting for a separate Muslim state, seized 10 foreign tourists about a year ago from a Malaysian resort, and most were released for millions of dollars in ransom. Arroyo has vowed to defeat the rebels.
"We will finish off all the bandits if they don't surrender at the earliest possible time," Arroyo said in a radio address Saturday. "To the Abu Sayyaf: You have nowhere else to run and it would be best for you to release those whom you've kidnapped. You're just one more bullet."