ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines?Laminusa has become a virtual ghost island in Sulu following Sunday?s antiterror operation by Marines that left 10 people dead and several others wounded or arrested, police said.

Senior Supt. Joseph Ramac, Sulu police director, said he saw only a few residents when he visited the fishing community on Laminusa Island off Siasi town on Tuesday.

?We were told the residents were afraid the Marines would come back so they fled,? he said.

The island has a population of at least 12,000, mainly belonging to the Samal ethnolinguistic group, according to Siasi Mayor Arthur Muksan.

?Samals are peace-loving people,? Muksan said. ?Every time they are caught in conflict, they move away and settle in some places where there is no war.?

Ramac said the police tried but failed to convince the residents to return to their villages. They were afraid of what the soldiers could do to them, even at the sight of a Navy ship near the island, he said.

The deaths of 10 villagers on Sunday were enough proof that the Marines were out to harm them, the officer said.

?Those killed were innocent civilians. It was sad because one of them (Nursima Ansit), the 16-year old girl was supposed to graduate from high school this year,? he said.

A source from the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Western Mindanao said the agency had received reports that most of the victims were preparing to fish when the Marines stormed the island at dawn.