Philippine troops are clearing out the last remaining Muslim rebels after a six-day operation in the south that has killed dozens of militants and allowed scores of hostages to flee, officials say.
Police estimated the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) gunmen were now holding as few as seven civilian hostages in the southern port city of Zamboanga, compared to more than 100 a day earlier, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said on Saturday.
His comments boosted hopes that the crisis, which had left entire neighbourhoods razed to the ground by the gunmen and forced tens of thousands of residents to flee, would soon be resolved.
"By today, it's quite clear that not only is this incursion being contained," Roxas told reporters. "From contained it has evolved into constriction, which is to reduce the operating space of the MNLF. Now it is into clearing."
Relentless day and night operations by at least 3000 elite government troops have killed 43 rebels while 19 others had been detained, said military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Ramon Zagala.
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"Right now we are optimistic that our operations are effective and that we are delivering a significant blow to our enemies," he said.
"We hope that we can finish this calibrated response at the soonest possible time," he said, while refusing to give a timetable.
He cautioned that the remaining gunmen were still dangerous, and the presence of civilians in neighbourhoods where the remnants were hiding out meant the military could only use light weaponry.
He said the military and police forces had suffered six dead while four civilians were also killed.
The optimistic assessment of the operation came hours after Vice President Jejomar Binay offered to broker a ceasefire between the government and MNLF leader Nur Misuari.
Binay, the country's number-two elected official, followed President Benigno Aquino to Zamboanga on Saturday to discuss with the Filipino leader a ceasefire plan that he said he had also raised with Misuari.
The truce was tentatively scheduled to take effect at midnight on Saturday, a spokesman for the vice president told AFP.
