MOSLEM REBELS AT A REMOTE CAMP IN SOUTHERN MINDANAO, 2000-03-24 (photo)

A Filipino Moslem rebel leader (2nd-R) is interviewed by a local television station while his colleagues stand beside him in Sumisip, a remote village in the mountains of southern Philippines in Mindanao March 23. A Philippine rebel militia holding about 50 hostages in the jungles of a remote island in the south has said it wants Catholics to leave the area and allow the setting up of an Islamic state. The rebels, armed with grenade launchers and automatic carbines, kidnapped children, a priest and some teachers when they attacked two Catholic schools elsewhere in Basilan on Monday. EDC/CC