‘MISSION ACCOMPLISHED’; ALL HOSTAGES RESCUED; TROOPS HUNTING DOWN MNLF COMMANDER

With the last hostages rescued from their Moro captors on Thursday night, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin on Friday declared the military’s mission in Zamboanga City as accomplished. “The mission of the operation was really to rescue and ensure the safety of the hostages,” Gazmin said. He said government forces rescued 194 hostages, residents of the coastal villages that Habier Malik’s band seized after the military had thwarted the rebels’ attempt to take the city and declare an “independent Bangsamoro Republik.”