Bloody Philippine Siege Brought to an EndIn an entry earlier this month, Muslim Rebels Attack Philippine Towns, I described a siege that left 200 people held hostage in Zamboanga City, Philippines. Now, three weeks of urban warfare have come to an end in Zamboanga. Most of the hundreds of Muslim Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels who stormed into the town have now been killed or captured by Philippine forces, and the military is handing control of the area back to local police. The AFP reports that 183 rebels were killed, 292 others were detained, 23 soldiers and police were killed, and 12 civilians also lost their lives. Weeks of street battles and numerous fires destroyed more than 10,000 homes and caused more than 100,000 residents to flee, creating a humanitarian crisis that will take months to abate.[36 photos] Use j/k keys or ←/→ to navigate Choose: 1024px 1280px A Philippine national flag put up by government soldiers flutters on a building riddled with bullet holes from clashes with Muslim rebels of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in Zamboanga city, southern Philippines, on September 28, 2013. Philippine forces said on Friday they had rescued the last civilians held by Muslim rebels on a southern island after nearly three weeks of fighting that has raised doubts about government efforts to end decades-old insurgencies. About 200 people, mostly rebels, were killed and more than 100,000 residents of the port city on the main southern island of Mindanao were displaced. (Reuters/Stringer) Government soldiers take cover beside armored vehicles as they try to assault the positions of Muslim rebels during a gunbattle in Zamboanga City, on September 13, 2013. They retreated afterwards due to IEDs and booby traps they found on the road, a military official said. (Reuters/Erik De Castro) # An aerial view of burning houses caused by fires from fighting between government soldiers and MNLF Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 25, 2013. (Reuters/Stringer) # A Holy Rosary dangles amidst M203 ammunition on the vest of a Government soldier, during a pursuit of Muslim rebels, on September 15, 2013 in Zamboanga City. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # A Government soldier stands next to a huge hole in a wall, created during an offensive against Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # A flotilla of bancas (locally made boats) carrying evacuees displaced from their homes due to fighting between government soldiers and MNLF rebels, during sunset at a wharf in Zamboanga city, on September 14, 2013. (Reuters/Erik De Castro) # Villagers displaced by the fighting, housed in tents in a stadium in Zamboanga City, on September 20, 2013.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # A villager waits for a ride to take her to an evacuation center after authorities ordered a forced evacuation of their village as a standoff between the government troops and Muslim rebels, who took scores of hostages and used them as human shields, on September 13, 2013 in Zamboanga City. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # Red Cross volunteers lay wounded after a mortar landed near them as the government troops assaulted Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # A member of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force guards a public high school as evacuees receive food rations while government forces continue to engage Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # A Government soldier from Task Force Zamboanga fires 60mm mortars as renewed fighting between Government forces and Muslim rebels, who took scores of hostages, entered a second week, on September 16, 2013 in Zamboanga City.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # Smoke rises as fighting continues between government forces and Muslim rebels in Zamboanga city, on September 18, 2013. A Philippine police chief abducted by a small band of Muslim rebels convinced them to surrender and emerged free, but a separate larger group continued to hold several hostages, officials said. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # A pigeon flies back to its house as fire rages in the background in Zamboanga City, on September 16, 2013.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # Gutted houses, a day after fierce fighting between the government troopers and Muslim rebels, on September 13, 2013.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # Police and military bomb squad members examine the wreckage of a passenger bus, following an explosion that killed three people in Zamboanga City, on September 21, 2013. The explosion occurred as the standoff between Government forces and Muslim rebels continued. (AP Photo) # A resident inspects damage to a house after a mortar shell believed to be from the Muslim rebels' position hit a residential house as government forces clashed anew with remnants of Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 21, 2013. Philippine security forces killed eight Muslim rebels September 19, as they hunted the remnants of a guerrilla force hiding in homes of a major city and believed to be holding hostages. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) # Villagers, who were displaced by the fighting between government forces and Muslim rebels, continue to live on their boats on September 20, 2013 in Zamboanga City. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # Tens of thousands of villagers are camped out in a stadium to escape the fighting between government forces and Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # Children evacuees effected by the stand-off between Philippine government forces and Muslim rebels pose for photos at an evacuation center in Zamboanga, on September 14, 2013. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) # A military drone flies above as fighting continued between the government troops and Muslim rebels, on september 14, 2013 in Zamboanga. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # Government troops prepare for an assault in Zamboanga city, on September 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # Smoke billows as stilt houses burn in fires caused by fighting between government soldiers and Muslim rebelson the outskirts of Zamboanga City, on September 27, 2013. (Reuters/Stringer) # A hostage receives treatment after being released from the hands of Muslim rebels in Zamboanga, on September 17, 2013. About 64 hostages were freed or escaped during military operations, followed by another 14 who walked to freedom in separate batches.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # A young hostage is reunited with his parents after being processed at the Philippine National Police Camp in Zamboanga, on September 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # A Government trooper covers the bodies of two Muslim rebels, a female and a male, after they were killed in the standoff in Zamboanga, on September 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # The hand of a dead MNLF Muslim rebel, his body in a military vehicle, after he was killed in the offensive in Zamboanga, on September 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # Suspected Muslim rebels whom the military said were either captured or surrendered, arrive at a police station for processing in Zamboanga, on September 26, 2013. Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said only a handful of Moro National Liberation Front rebels remained in hiding and were being hunted by troops in the coastal outskirts of Zamboanga, adding authorities were trying to determine if rebel commander Habier Malik, who led the September 9 siege, was dead. (AP Photo) # Volunteers help lower the body of a suspected Muslim rebel killed in the stand-off between Philippine government forces and MNLF rebels during a burial on the outskirts of Zamboanga, on September 20, 2013. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) # Volunteers bury the bodies of Muslim rebels killed in the standoff in a common grave in the outskirts of Zamboanga, on September 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) # Muslim rebels captured during the standoff with government forces are transported to a prison facility outside Zamboanga, on September 27, 2013. Aid workers warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis in a major Philippine city racked by weeks of deadly street battles between Muslim rebels and soldiers. (AFP/Getty Images) # Members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), who surrendered to government soldiers, wait to be fingerprinted at a police station in Zamboanga, on September 26, 2013. (Reuters/Stringer) # Philippine police officers salute to pay their respects to their comrade, who was killed during an operation against Muslim rebels in Zamboanga, as his casket arrives at Villamor Air Base in Pasay, south of Manila, Philippines, on September 25, 2013.(AP Photo/Aaron Favila) # Government troops rest amid ruins at the site of a three-week standoff in Zamboanga, on September 28, 2013. (AP Photo) # Philippine soldiers, wearing gas masks, look at burned bodies believed to be Muslim rebels, next to destroyed houses at the site of heavy fighting between government forces and MNLF rebels in the Santa Catalina area of Zamboanga City, on September 26, 2013.(Frederick Alvarez/AFP/Getty Images) # Philippine soldiers wear gas masks as they patrol among destroyed houses at the site of heavy fighting between government forces and MNLF rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 26, 2013. (Frederick Alvarez/AFP/Getty Images) # The Philippine national flag flies at half-staff as soldiers watch a news conference below of top Government officials at the site of a three-week intense fight between government forces and Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 28, 2013. The deadly standoff between government troops and Muslim rebels has ended, officials said Saturday. More than 200 people were killed in the clashes, including 183 rebels and 23 soldiers and police, in one of the bloodiest and longest-running attacks by a Muslim group in the south, scene of decades-long Muslim rebellion for self-rule in the largely Roman Catholic country. (AP Photo) | Muslim Rebels Attack Philippine TownsA deadly attack by a Muslim separatist group in Zamboanga City, on the Philippine island of Mindanao, has evolved into a tense hostage crisis, while two other Muslim rebel groups staged separate attacks in neighboring towns. Starting early on Monday, hundreds of armed Moro National Liberation Front rebels, enraged by a failed peace deal with the Philippine government, landed on the coast of Zamboanga, with a reported goal of capturing the City Hall. Philippine Armed Forces responded, killing at least 14, and encircling the rebels, who have taken nearly 200 hostages to use as human shields. As the standoff in Zamboanga reached a fourth day, a separate, possibly unrelated attack took place on the neighboring island of Basilan, where approximately 150 members of two smaller Muslim rebel groups clashed with government forces, wounding three. Philippine government troops continue their assault on members of the Muslim rebel Moro National Liberation Front in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, on September 12, 2013. Philippine troops battled Muslim rebels on two fronts Thursday, after extremists attacked a second city near the southern port where militants have been holding scores of residents hostage in a four-day standoff with government forces. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
Fresh troops arrive as reinforcements, continuing an assault on Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) #
Residents, believed to be hostages, wave white sheets as they shout at troops to halt their operation in the continuing standoff with Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 11, 2013. About 200 Muslim rebels, enraged by a broken peace deal with the Philippine government, are holding scores of hostages as human shields in a continuing standoff with government forces for the third day with no solution in sight. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) #
Government soldiers take cover during a firefight with Muslim rebels from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. Fighting between security forces and rogue Muslim rebels seeking to declare an independent state escalated and spread to a second island, officials said. U.S.-trained commandos exchanged gunfire with a breakaway faction of the MNLF holding dozens of hostages in Zamboanga City, on the southernmost island of Mindanao. (Reuters/Erik De Castro) #
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels, one of them injured, lie on the ground after they were captured at a military checkpoint in downtown Zamboanga, on September 11, 2013. (Reuters/Erik De Castro) #
A weapon concealed in a bag of rice carried by an MNLF rebel lies on a road after the rebel was captured at a military checkpoint in downtown Zamboanga, on September 11, 2013. (Reuters/Erik De Castro) #
Paramedics carry a wounded MNLF rebel on a stretcher, after he was captured at a checkpoint in downtown Zamboanga, on September 11, 2013. (Reuters/Erik De Castro) #
Villagers use boats to flee the current standoff between Government troops and Muslim rebels at the southern port city of Zamboanga, on September 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) #
Residents living near the area of a stand-off between the Philippine military and Muslim gunmen in Zamboanga, in dozens of boats after evacuating the city's boulevards, along the coast on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, on September 11, 2013.(Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) #
Government forces man the port at sunset as about 200 Muslim rebels, enraged by a broken peace deal with the Philippine government, hold scores of hostages as human shields in a continuing standoff with government forces at the southern port city of Zamboanga, on September 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) #
A Philippine soldier mans a machine gun inside an armored personnel carrier during a firefight between government forces and Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) #
A sniper of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force aims his rifle at the Muslim mosque with its minaret full of pockmarks during a standoff with Muslim rebels, on September 10, 2013, in Zamboanga. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) #
A policeman uses a mirror to scan the positions of Moro National Liberation Front snipers in Zamboanga, where security forces are battling hundreds of rebels who are holding dozens of civilian hostages, on September 10, 2013. (Reuters/Stringer) #
Government soldiers pray prior to taking their position as the stand-off enter its fourth day in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) #
Government troops continue their assault on Muslim rebels, on September 12, 2013, in Zamboanga City.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) #
Government troops fire their weapons at Muslim rebels positions in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) #
A Philippine soldier guides a fire truck to burning houses during a firefight between government forces and Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) #
Residents attempt to extinguish the flames from burning houses, caused by a firefight between government soldiers and Muslim rebels in a residential district in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (Reuters/Erik De Castro) #
Residents rush to save their belongings as fire continues to raze several homes while government troops continued an assault on Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) #
A partially burned cat runs away from burning houses during a firefight between government forces and Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) #
A man throws water on a burning house in a residential district, where a fire broke out after a clash between government soldiers and Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (Reuters/Erik De Castro) #
A resident holds his head as a fire razes several homes during a firefight in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) #
A Philippine soldier fires his M-16 rifle at rebel snipers as another soldier covers his ears during a firefight between government forces and Muslim rebels in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) #
Members of the Philippine national police special forces take cover as they move on enemy positions among burning houses during a firefight in Zamboanga City, on September 12, 2013. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images) #
Firemen rush to put out a fire that razed dozens of structures during a government assault on members of the Muslim rebel Moro National Liberation Front in Zamboanga city, southern Philippines, on September 12, 2013. Philippine troops battled Muslim rebels on two fronts on Thursday, after about 150 extremists attacked a second city near the southern port where militants have been holding scores of residents hostage in a four-day standoff with government forces. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) | 2 |
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