Rescue operation tough — Blair

The commander of US forces in the Pacific described yesterday as "tough" a military assault in Basilan to rescue 21 hostages, including at least two Americans, from the Abu Sayyaf.

The hostage crisis is on its seventh week with some 5,000 government troops involved in the operation to flush out the rebels holding the captives in a forested mountain in Basilan.

"We recognize that this is a tough job down there in the South in terms of terrain and complexity of the operations," Adm. Dennis Blair, commander in chief of the US Pacific Command, told a media conference.

More than a dozen Filipino soldiers have died since the rescue attempt was launched after the hostage crisis broke out on May 27.

The military’s reputation took a beating for alleged foot dragging in the operation. At one point, the military reportedly surrounded the kidnappers with the captives but the outnumbered rebels managed to slip the cordon.

Blair arrived in Manila on Wednesday to attend talks under the jurisdiction of the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Board, a forum for consultations between the militaries of the two countries. Yesterday, he called on both President Arroyo and Vice President and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teofisto Guingona Jr.

The hostage crisis began when the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group abducted 17 Filipinos and three Americans from the upmarket Dos Palmas island resort off Palawan last May 27.

Some Filipino hostages have since been freed, reportedly after ransom payments but four Filipino captives have been killed and the Abu Sayyaf boast they beheaded one of the Americans, Californian Guillermo Sobero.

They still hold two other Americans and 19 Filipino hostages.

Asked to confirm the death of Sobero, Blair said: "We hope that all our hostages are safe and alive including Mr. Sobero as well the (other captives) — that is our primary concern."

He said the US military was not directly engaged in the rescue operations.

"It’s simply not true that there are any American forces involved in area of operations in the south," he said.

Blair also rejected news reports that Washington had criticized Manila for allegedly dragging its feet over the rescue attempt.

"I saw a report that I was, the US was irked with the progress of operations and that is simply not true. We believe that the Philippine armed forces and the government are doing a fine job in terms of difficulty of what is going on," he said.

"The United States’ primary concern of course is with the safety of the Americans who are hostages as is the concern of the Philippines with their hostages," Blair said. – Paolo Romero, Pia Lee-Brago, Mayen Jaymalin