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                  All Hostages Freed inPhilippines Rebel Fight

   Philippine officials say all hostages held by Muslim rebels in the
   southern town of Zamboanga during a nearly three-week battle with
   government forces are now free.
   Authorities said Saturday all 195 hostages had either escaped, been
   rescued or were released by the Moro National Liberation Front.
   The military says more than 165 rebels and 23 soldiers and police were
   killed in the fighting.
   However, Philippine authorities say a few of the gunmen remain in
   hiding and are being hunted by government troops.
   Meanwhile, the military says it is trying to determine the whereabouts
   of rebel commander Habier Malik.
   More than 100,000 Zamboanga residents, about a tenth of the city`s
   population, were forced to flee from their homes during the siege.
   Authorities say 10,000 homes were destroyed.
   President Benigno Aquino has announced a $90 million reconstruction
   fund for the bustling port city.
   The MNLF has long pushed for greater autonomy in the mainly Muslim
   south, where a four-decade-long insurgency has killed at least 120,000
   people.
   The group signed a peace agreement with the government in 1996 that led
   to the creation of an autonomous region in Mindanao. But some of its
   members continued to fight, claiming Manila did not hold up its end of
   the deal to develop the impoverished, rural region.
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   l-fight/1758902.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/all-hostages-freed-inphilippines-rebel-fight/1758902.html