Philippine rebels seize gold miners to use as 'human shields' against army troops

Communist rebels seized dozens of prospectors in a remote Philippine gold-rush site and used them as "human shields" against pursuing troops, a military official said.

About 80 members of the New People's Army prevented 39 miners, including four children, leaving the mining site in Compostela Valley on Saturday to stop troops from advancing and capturing them, regional army chief Lieutenant Colonel Michael Logico said.

Local officials persuaded the rebels to free most of the miners, although it is believed around a dozen are still being held at the site. "It's a desperate move," Logico said. "They are using them as human shields. They know without the civilians they are vulnerable to an assault."

Logico said the military launched the attack on two fronts last week to flush out the rebels amid reports that they were harassing villages.

"We had been conducting platoon-sized combat operations that forced them to flee," he said, adding that two battalions, or about 800 men, were involved in the operation.

The mountainous area in the southern Philippines where the offensives took place is a mineral-rich site that has over the years attracted thousands of prospectors who operate illegal gold mines.