MANILA, March 14: A bloody revolt at a maximum security prison, which has claimed six lives, dragged on late Monday after Al Qaeda linked militants reneged on a promise and refused to hand over their weapons, negotiators said.
Exasperated government negotiators, who earlier signed an agreement not to harm the prisoners, said they were calling off talks for the night and would return on Tuesday morning.
Negotiators led by Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes and Manila police chief Avelino Razon then left the prison, which was bathed in floodlights in the early evening, after failing to end the 13-hour crisis.
“They changed their minds,” Razon told reporters. “It’s not yet finished,” echoed Reyes.
Muslim legislator and government negotiator Mujib Hataman, said the decision not to resume talks would remain until a clear committment was made by the prisoners to turn-in their guns.
At least 10 Abu Sayyaf detainees overpowered their guards during a routine headcount and took control of the second floor in the four-storey building.
The jail houses 435 prisoners, including 129 Abu Sayyaf suspects and 10 members of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Heavily armed and special forces units remained on standby outside.
Police said three guards and two Abu Sayyaf inmates were killed, though other official sources put the death toll at six.
Razon said the guards were shot and stabbed, apparently with the officers’ own firearms. He said the knives could have been smuggled in by visitors.
