Police said they were almost certainly the work of the Abu Sayyaf separatist guerrilla group

Police said they were almost certainly the work of the Abu Sayyaf separatist guerrilla group. Negotiators are trying to secure the release of 21 hostages held on Jolo by the Muslim rebels.Witnesses saw three men throw grenades from the second floor of the bustling public market in Jolo town, where two exploded in a rice stall and three in a crowded alley.At least four people died and 39 were injured when the grenades exploded. “I heard explosions, then everyone started falling to the ground,” said Basir Kasim, a market worker, whose shirt and hands were covered in blood.The blast in the Zamboanga bakery killed one woman and injured at least 19 other people.Rescuers carried the wounded to ambulances through puddles of blood and shreds of clothing.In Jolo, victims were treated on the floor of the emergency room. One doctor asked a television cameraman to focus the camera’s light on a patient so that he could see better to operate in the dimly lit room.Negotiations for the release of the hostages – nine Malaysians, two Filipinos, three Germans, a French couple, two South Africans, two Finns and a Lebanese woman – are expected to begin either today or tomorrow. The first demand is expected to be for the release of one of the German captives, Renate Wallert, 57, who has high blood pressure and is in poor health.

A South African hostage, Monique Strydom, is two months pregnant. Filipino doctors said yesterday that she ought to freed.Muhammad Alamia, the chief of police in Jolo, was asked if the rebels holding the hostages might be responsible for yesterday’s explosions. “It is possible that this is a diversionary tactic of the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas,” he said.. A dozen men armed with M-16 rifles, wearing Afghan and Palestinian headgear, stopped our car following behind the convoy of negotiators on its way to meet the Abu Sayyaf rebels on Jolo island in the southern Philippines. A dozen men armed with M-16 rifles, wearing Afghan and Palestinian headgear, stopped our car following behind the convoy of negotiators on its way to meet the Abu Sayyaf rebels on Jolo island in the southern Philippines.
We explained that our group of eight journalists – seven French and one Norwegian – was trying to reach the rebels to interview the 21 hostages who have been held hostage for almost four weeks.The guerrillas agreed to take us to through the dense jungle to their group leader. After a three-hour march in sweltering heat, we arrived in a coconut grove and were taken to a bamboo cabin. Initially there was no sign of aggression from the dozen gun-toting teenagers and handful of veterans as we chatted in English.

They even brought us some fruit.But when darkness fell, the atmosphere changed dramatically. A Chinese-Filipino shone a torch into our faces, saying “An intelligence report from Manila says there are CIA agents among you.”The next thing we knew, we were robbed of our watches, wallets and portable telephones, before being held incommunicado for 48 hours.When we finally met the Abu Sayyaf leaders, we were told by an imam: “These are groups that have sprung up among us We can’t control them. They are spoiling everything.”Commander “Global”, the leader of the Muslim separatist rebellion in the southern Philippines, described the centuries of oppression of the Moro people, by the Spaniards, the Americans, and now by Manila.The Moro people are concentrated in the southern Philippines and in the Malaysian province of Sabah, where the foreign tourists – most of them on a diving holiday on the island of Sipadan – were captured on 23 April.Hundreds of armed guerrillas, split into small groups, patrol the Abu Sayyaf camp which is located on Mount Daho. Villagers in the poverty-stricken region can see no other option but to take up arms and fight with the rebels.The group holding the foreigners has made vague demands for the release of Islamic prisoners held in the United States, but, as yet, there is nothing firm, and formal negotiations for the return of the hostages have still not started.In a manifesto released on Tuesday, the group issued demands for independence and a reported $2m (£1.3m) ransom for the release of an ailing German woman hostage.

It was still not clear whether the two-page document is now their official list of demands, but the government has repeatedly refused to consider independence.The Abu Sayyaf leaders denounce the “colonialist education system” that is marginalising their culture, and the corruption of local politicians accused of diverting development funds from Manila. They have also added a religious dimension to their sometimes confused and incoherent explanations: they say they want an Iranian-style state in its “original version”.Commander Global, 40, a former criminology student, said “just a commitment would be enough to help our people”, but he added: “We must have it in writing because the Philippines government has always broken its promises unless there are international witnesses present.”Distancing himself from rebel threats to behead the hostages, he said: “Look at me. Do you think that I am capable of doing a thing like that?” He also rejected accusations of terrorism. “We decided to do this kidnapping to tell the world that the problem of the Moro people existed Unlike Afghanistan or Bosnia, we don’t have outside help. We are completely self-sufficient.”Commander Global is the group’s ideologist. The other rebel commanders have a military background, having broken with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the main separatist rebel group in the southern Philippines Commander Robot is one of them.

He is incapable of responding to a simple political question, but is widely respected by his men for his bravery in battle.The hostages, meanwhile, are kept in a large bamboo cabin where they survive on a diet of rice and sardines. They find it difficult to contain their exasperation with the guerrillas “They show no feelings towards us. Their mental age, including that of Robot, is that of a 12-year-old,” exploded Stéphane Loisy, one of two French hostages in the group.Outside, the rebels were shoring up their defences against an army attack “War is part of our culture,” said Commander Global “We don’t need to be trained, the Moros are born fighters.”. The international force in Sierra Leone is to be boosted by reinforcements from West African states and Russia. The international force in Sierra Leone is to be boosted by reinforcements from West African states and Russia.
Yesterday’s announcement came as international moves to put together a peace formula began after the capture of the rebel leader Corporal Foday Sankoh.