Gunmen refuse to free hostages

Al Qaida- linked Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the Philippines have refused to free foreign hostages after two weeks of negotiations with a Muslim rebel group, which said yesterday that it would continue talking to the extremists.

Hundreds of rebels of the Moro National Liberation Front, which signed an autonomy deal with the government in 1996, are camped in the foothills of mountainous Patikul town on southern Jolo island to negotiate the release of foreign and Filipino hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf in its jungle enclave.

The militants are believed to be holding two European birdwatchers, a Japanese treasure hunter, a Jordanian journalist, a Malaysian man and two Filipinos.

The Moro rebels were not disarmed after signing the 1996 peace deal and most returned to their rural villages on Jolo, a poor Muslim region where the smaller but more violent Abu Sayyaf also has a presence.

Moro commander Khabir Malek said his group has taken the initiative to seek the freedom of the hostages to help the government clean up the image of Jolo, where Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for bombings, highprofile kidnappings and beheadings, primarily in the early 2000s.

United States- backed military offensives have crippled the Abu Sayyaf in recent years, but it remains a national security threat. Washington has declared the Abu Sayyaf a terrorist organisation.