ZAMBOANGA CITY, 18 July 2007 — Gunmen holding Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi in the southern Philippines have made contact with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) and the Roman Catholic group said that was reason enough to be optimistic.

“Negotiations are now going on and we are waiting for positive developments,” said the Rev. Father Luciano Benedetti, a PIME member who was himself taken hostage by Moro gunmen several years ago.

Benedetti said many people were trying to help to secure the freedom of the 57-year old missionary, who was seized by gunmen in the coastal town of Payao in Zamboanga Sibugay province on June 10 after holding mass with his congregation.

The Catholic news agency AsiaNews also confirmed that mediation for Bossi’s release were ongoing, but did not say who were involved.

Philippine authorities have tagged Akiddin Abdusallam, described as a “rogue leader” of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is negotiating peace with the government.

But the MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group which is negotiating with the government for a political solution to the so-called “Mindanao Conflict,” said Abdusallam was kicked out long time ago because of his criminal past and has joined the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.

In a show of cooperation, MILF fighters joined forces with government troops in an attempt to blockade the gunmen in the borders of Zamboanga Sibugay and the Lanao provinces.

Both the government and MILF forces, however, appeared to have been looking in the wrong place. At it turned out, the gunmen took Bossi southward to the troubled island of Basilan, the birthplace of the Abu Sayyaf.

Word about Bossi’s location started coming out early this month, with emissaries bringing pictures of the priest to his colleagues in Zamboanga City.

Fighting in Basilan

The crisis came to a head when Marines who were sent to check reports of the priest’s presence in Al Barka town of Basilan were ambushed by rebels on July 10.

Of the 14 soldiers killed, 10 were beheaded and their hands and sex organs chopped off, sparking an outrage.

Officials blamed the attack on Abu Sayyaf militants but MILF leaders said only their fighters were involved.

At the same time, Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF’s chief peace negotiator, said their fighters could not have been responsible for the beheadings since the decapitation of corpses is an “un-Islamic” act prohibited by the group.

“We have repeatedly denied decapitating the soldiers. It is against the MILF policy to decapitate the enemy,” Iqbal told Arab News.

He also said his group will not surrender any of its fighters involved in the attack, as demanded by the government.

“The fighting between government soldiers and MILF forces in Basilan was a legitimate encounter. We will not surrender any of our fighters. We will not give in to the demands of the Philippine government. We are ready to defend our selves and that is our right,” Iqbal said.

Iqbal said the military already violated the cease-fire when soldiers went inside MILF stronghold in Al-Barka town.

Four MILF rebels were reported killed in addition to the 14 fallen Marines. Nine soldiers were also wounded.

Iqbal said the MILF was placed on heightened alert as hundreds of troops arrived in Basilan in preparation for an offensive to pursue those behind the killings.

Truce Monitors

In a bid to preservc the cease-fire pact between the two sides, the Philippine government has formally asked Malaysia to send peace monitors to Basilan and investigate the nine-hour gunbattle.

Rodolfo Garcia, a retired general, said the government and MILF were also working to resume stalled negotiations in Kuala Lumpur by the first week of August.

“I have asked the Malaysians to help us get into the bottom of the investigation on who was responsible for the beheading of 10 Marines on July 10,” Garcia told Reuters in an interview.

“I don’t want to lessen the effectiveness of a joint inquiry by the government and the rebels, but the Malaysians would bring in more credibility, integrity and impartiality into the results of the fact-finding.”

Since 2001, Malaysia has been brokering talks between Manila and the MILF and has deployed unarmed troops on the mainland of Mindanao to monitor the truce along with Libya and Brunei.

But it has no monitors on the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-tawi.

Garcia said peace talks with the MILF remained on track as long as the cease-fire holds.

“We have gained so much in our efforts to bring an enduring peace to the south,” Garcia said. “It would be such a waste to throw out the peace talks from the window just because of one incident in Basilan.”

Yesterday, two Marines were killed and another was wounded when Abu Sayyaf militants ambushed them in nearby Jolo island. (Additional input from Reuters)