Insurgents storm villages in Zamboanga, killing six people and taking 20 hostages

ZAMBOANGA: Philippine troops are locked in a standoff with hundreds of Muslim gunmen who killed six people and took at least 20 hostages in the south in a bid to derail peace talks.

A night-time curfew was imposed in this southern port city as armoured security forces surrounded between 200 and 300 Moro National Libera­tion Front (MNLF) gunmen holed up in six coastal villages on its outskirts.