ZAMBOANGA CITY/MANILA, 18 March 2005 — At least 19 of 23 inmates who were killed in a bloody prison revolt were suspected Abu Sayyaf militants blamed for some of the Philippines’ worst terror attacks, prosecutors said yesterday.

Police stormed the maximum-security jail in a hail of gunfire Tuesday, ending a 29-hour standoff that started when suspected Abu Sayyaf guerrillas attacked guards, then took over the facility when their escape plot fizzled, officials said.

Grieving relatives on Wednesday buried the 22 Muslim inmates in a mass grave in a large Muslim community in Manila’s Taguig suburb. Their bloody remains were not cleaned and were wrapped in white cloth — a local practice that indicated they were regarded as martyrs.

Prosecutor Aristotle Reyes said 19 had been charged and detained in connection with kidnappings and bombings. Three of the dead inmates were suspected commanders of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf.

“These rebels would have been convicted just the same because of overwhelming evidence and their identification by witnesses,” Reyes said.

It was not clear what charges had been brought against the other four who died, including three Muslims. An Abu Sayyaf leader still at large, Abu Sulaiman, has warned of revenge, leading police to tighten security that already was high after a trio of deadly bombings a month ago.

Many relatives of the dead have criticized the government, believing the inmates were killed in cold blood and falsely made to appear to have put up a fight with smuggled weapons. People who spent time as hostages under the rebels said they would have preferred for the militants to be convicted and executed by injection.

Businessman Buddy Recio said one of the slain militants, Alhamzer Manatad Limbong (alias Kosovo), was one of the guerrillas who abducted him, his wife, son and 17 other vacationers, including three Americans, from the Dos Palmas resort in 2001. He said he was confident the others would be convicted, and has applied to witness any execution related to their ordeal.

“They deserved that kind of death but I would have wanted to personally see them being executed,” said Angie Montealegre, a Dos Palmas hostage who was freed after six months of harrowing jungle captivity.

Eldren Morales, a Dos Palmas security guard who was left for dead after the rebels hacked his neck in an attempt to behead him, also recognized Limbong as having been among his captors.

Limbong was also implicated in a ferry bombing a year ago that killed 116 people in the Philippines’ worst terrorist attack.

“They have only one life to pay for so many deaths and destruction they have caused,” Morales told The Associated Press by telephone. “Those slain rebels deserved more than what happened to them.”

Arroyo Comforts Wounded Soldiers

In the southern city of Zamboanga, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo met with grieving families of government soldiers who were killed in fierce clashes with rebels in Jolo island.

Arroyo embraced several women after they broke down while speaking to her inside the military’s Southern Command hospital.

“Your husband is a hero and he died protecting the innocent. Be strong,” Arroyo was quoted by one woman as saying

The military said 33 soldiers were killed and 85 were wounded in weeks of fierce fighting with Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels and Abu Sayyaf militants in Jolo last month.

Hundreds of gunmen simultaneously attacked military posts in the island on Feb. 7, triggering the fighting that also left more than 100 rebels dead, it said.

Arroyo also pinned medals to 30 soldiers, who were among those wounded in the fighting. She handed each of them checks to help their families buy food, a local deputy spokesman Capt. Richie Pabillonia said.

Arroyo arrived in the city by helicopter at around 1 p.m. from the province of Zamboanga Sibugay, where she distributed land titles to hundreds of poor families.

The Philippine Information Agency said about 10,000 people from Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay were granted land titles. Arroyo is to head to nearby Basilan island also to distribute land titles in Lamitan town, a former Abu Sayyaf stronghold.

Hundreds of school children, carrying small Philippine flags ands ribbons, trooped inside the Southern Command base to welcome Arroyo, but they were sent home for a still unknown reason.

Security was tight in city where Arroyo stayed overnight. Police and military put up checkpoints and road blocks.