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Philippines calls for Misuari charges over city attack

  • Soldiers wear gas masks due to the smell of decaying bodies as they patrol on September 26, 2013 among destroyed houses at the site of fighting between government forces and Moro Liberation Front rebels in the Santa Catalina area of Zamboanga City
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    Soldiers wear gas masks due to the smell of decaying bodies as they patrol on September 26, 2013 among destroyed houses at the site of fighting between government forces and Moro Liberation Front rebels in the Santa Catalina area of Zamboanga City
  • Graphic on the situation in Zamboanga in the Philippines where the UN has warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis after 173 people have died in fighting between rebels and troops, and some 109,000 people have been displaced
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    Crisis in southern Philippines

    Graphic on the situation in Zamboanga in the Philippines where the UN has warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis after 173 people have died in fighting between rebels and troops, and some 109,000 people have been displaced
  • Houses damaged by heavy fighting between government forces and Moro National Liberation Front rebels in Zamboanga on September 27, 2013
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    Houses damaged by heavy fighting between government forces and Moro National Liberation Front rebels in Zamboanga on September 27, 2013
  • A Philippine soldier sits among burned houses destroyed during the stand-off with government forces in Zamboanga, on the southern island of Mindanao, on September 28, 2013
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    A Philippine soldier sits among burned houses destroyed during the stand-off with government forces in Zamboanga, on the southern island of Mindanao, on September 28, 2013
  • Philippine soldiers patrol the streets of Zamboanga, on the southern island of Mindanao, on September 21, 2013. Philippine President Benigno Aquino has flown out of the southern city where troops are fighting Muslim rebels, saying he expects the deadly battles to be over soon
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    Philippine soldiers patrol the streets of Zamboanga, on the southern island of Mindanao, on September 21, 2013

    Philippine soldiers patrol the streets of Zamboanga, on the southern island of Mindanao, on September 21, 2013. Philippine President Benigno Aquino has flown out of the southern city where troops are fighting Muslim rebels, saying he expects the deadly battles to be over soon
  • Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari talks to the media in Manila, on March 5, 2013. Philippines President Benigno Aquino has vowed to bring criminal charges against Misuari for a deadly attack on a major southern Philippine city that left hundreds dead or injured
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    Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari talks to the media in Manila, on March 5, 2013

    Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari talks to the media in Manila, on March 5, 2013. Philippines President Benigno Aquino has vowed to bring criminal charges against Misuari for a deadly attack on a major southern Philippine city that left hundreds dead or injured
  • An injured resident is helped by rescuers after a mortar shell hit her house in Zamboanga, on the southern island of Mindanao, on September 21, 2013. Philippine President Benigno Aquino has flown out of the southern city where troops are fighting Muslim rebels, saying he expects the deadly battles to be over soon
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    An injured resident is helped by rescuers after a mortar shell hit her house in Zamboanga, on September 21, 2013

    An injured resident is helped by rescuers after a mortar shell hit her house in Zamboanga, on the southern island of Mindanao, on September 21, 2013. Philippine President Benigno Aquino has flown out of the southern city where troops are fighting Muslim rebels, saying he expects the deadly battles to be over soon
  • A resident inspects the damage to their house after a mortar shell hit a residential area of Zamboanga, on the southern island of Mindanao, on September 21, 2013. Philippine President Benigno Aquino has flown out of the southern city where troops are fighting Muslim rebels, saying he expects the deadly battles to be over soon
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    A Zamboanga resident inspects the damage to their house after it was hit by a mortar shell, on September 21, 2013

    A resident inspects the damage to their house after a mortar shell hit a residential area of Zamboanga, on the southern island of Mindanao, on September 21, 2013. Philippine President Benigno Aquino has flown out of the southern city where troops are fighting Muslim rebels, saying he expects the deadly battles to be over soon
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    Philippine military warns Muslim rebels to surrender.

Soldiers wear gas masks due to the smell of decaying bodies as they patrol on September 26, 2013 among destroyed houses at the site of fighting between government forces and Moro Liberation Front rebels in the Santa Catalina area of Zamboanga City
Graphic on the situation in Zamboanga in the Philippines where the UN has warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis after 173 people have died in fighting between rebels and troops, and some 109,000 people have been displaced
Houses damaged by heavy fighting between government forces and Moro National Liberation Front rebels in Zamboanga on September 27, 2013
A Philippine soldier sits among burned houses destroyed during the stand-off with government forces in Zamboanga, on the southern island of Mindanao, on September 28, 2013
Philippine soldiers patrol the streets of Zamboanga, on the southern island of Mindanao, on September 21, 2013. Philippine President Benigno Aquino has flown out of the southern city where troops are fighting Muslim rebels, saying he expects the deadly battles to be over soon
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari talks to the media in Manila, on March 5, 2013. Philippines President Benigno Aquino has vowed to bring criminal charges against Misuari for a deadly attack on a major southern Philippine city that left hundreds dead or injured
An injured resident is helped by rescuers after a mortar shell hit her house in Zamboanga, on the southern island of Mindanao, on September 21, 2013. Philippine President Benigno Aquino has flown out of the southern city where troops are fighting Muslim rebels, saying he expects the deadly battles to be over soon
A resident inspects the damage to their house after a mortar shell hit a residential area of Zamboanga, on the southern island of Mindanao, on September 21, 2013. Philippine President Benigno Aquino has flown out of the southern city where troops are fighting Muslim rebels, saying he expects the deadly battles to be over soon
AFP News

Philippine police said Thursday they have asked prosecutors to bring rebellion and other criminal charges against Muslim leader Nur Misuari for a deadly guerrilla attack on a southern city. Police lodged the complaint against Misuari and against his followers, who fought street battles with police and troops in Zamboanga city last month in which more than 200 people died, said senior police investigator Senior Superintendent Edgar Danao. "We have gathered affidavits linking Misuari to the said attack," Danao told reporters Thursday, a day after the complaint was filed with the state prosecutor's office. Misuari is accused of sending his armed Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) followers to Zamboanga on September 9 to try to block a proposed peace deal between the government and a rival Muslim rebel group. The incursion sparked three weeks of street battles with elite military forces that forced more than 100,000 people to flee their homes. The government accused the gunmen of taking civilian hostages and setting fire to more than 10,000 homes. It declared the rebel action crushed on Saturday with the release of the last of 195 hostages. Apart from at least 189 guerrillas killed, the campaign also left at least 23 soldiers and police and 12 civilians dead. Misuari, 71, is believed by police to have gone into hiding. Police have so far filed complaints for rebellion and other criminal cases against 224 MNLF leaders and followers, most of them now detained, said regional police spokesman Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca. State prosecutors will evaluate the evidence submitted by police, then decide whether to bring charges in court. Rebellion is punishable by life imprisonment. Muslim rebels have been fighting since the 1970s for an independent or autonomous homeland in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines. An estimated 150,000 people have died in the conflict. The MNLF signed a peace treaty in 1996 that granted limited self-rule to the south's Muslim minority. However, the group opposes a planned final peace deal between the government and the remaining major Muslim rebel group, the 12,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Misuari apparently fears the proposed peace deal would sideline him and his group.