Abu Sayyaf

The Philippine military has confirmed the release of one of 10 hostages held by Abu Sayyaf rebels in the southern Philippines. Armed Forces spokesman General Edilberto Adan told CNN Monday that Filipino hostage Reina Malonzo was freed on November 1 and is now in the custody of a relative. Seven Filipinos and American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham remain in the hands of the bandit group. Malonzo was seized by the Abu Sayyaf in June from a provincial hospital in Basilan, a guerrilla stronghold 900 km (560 miles)

The tables may be turning on Abu Sayyaf guerrillas who have been holding hostage two Americans and a Filipino nurse for about nine months. Mayor Sakib Salajin of Maluso town, southwest of the Abu Sayyaf stronghold of Basilan in the southern Philippines, told reporters Wednesday that eight relatives of Abu Sayyaf members have been arrested. Salajin said the arrest would create pressure for the release of American couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap from Abu Sayyaf hands.

The Philippine military has rejected an offer from Abu Sayyaf rebels to release a hostage in exchange for a temporary cease-fire and medical care for one of its commanders, a Philippine military spokesman said. Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu of the southern command received a message from relatives of Abu Sayyaf commander Bakal Hapilon, saying the rebel group was willing to exchange hostage, Deborah Yap, a Philippine nurse, for a temporary ceasefire and medical treatment for Hapilon, according to Philippine military spokesman Capt.

The Philippines military has captured a senior leader of the Abu Sayyaf militant group believed responsible for kidnapping 21 people from a Malaysian resort in April 2000. Ghalib Andang, known as Commander Robot, was captured by soldiers on Sunday evening in the southern Philippines after being wounded in a firefight, sources said. The head of the Philippine army's anti-kidnapping task force, General Angelo Reyes, told CNN Monday the military now had the Islamic group on the back foot.

A man claiming to have beheaded captives of Abu Sayyaf guerrillas in the southern Philippines has surrendered to police. The man gave himself up after seeing a videotape of alleged Abu Sayyaf beheadings on television, saying he was a former hostage forced to execute fellow captives or be beheaded himself. The videotape was released by the Philippine government to the media on Monday, to drum up support for ongoing war games with U.S. troops aimed at eliminating the Abu Sayyaf in the guerrilla stronghold of Basilan, some 900 km (560 miles)

The Philippine extremist group Abu Sayyaf has described a wave of bombings in the country's southern city of General Santos as a mere "warm up. " Following two explosions in General Santos on Sunday, a third bomb exploded only hours before a Monday visit by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, sparking apprehension in the city. In the wake of the bombings, the president has ordered armed forces to the fishing town on the southern Mindanao island. Police are now on heightened alert across the country and authorities have put all airports on red alert.

Abu Sabaya, the notorious leader of al Qaeda-linked guerrilla group Abu Sayyaf, has been confirmed killed during a shoot-out with Philippine special naval forces. The Philippines military are now searching the seas off the southern province of Zamboanga del Norte to recover the guerrilla leader's body. Abu Sabaya's body reportedly sank into the sea after he was shot during the clash between his men and the Philippine forces on Friday. The Abu Sayyaf has terrorized the southern Philippines with dozens of kidnappings that left 18 hostages dead in the past year, but its influence has been has waning following a concerted Philippine effort -- assisted by U.S. Special Forces --to crack down on the group.

The father of an American missionary held hostage in the Philippines has accused the Abu Sayyaf of reneging on a deal to free his son and daughter-in-law. In a radio broadcast on Radio Mindanao Network on Thursday, Paul Burnham said that the Abu Sayyaf extremist group backed out of an agreement reached last month to release Martin and Gracia Burnham along with Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap. The three are the last hostages from an Abu Sayyaf kidnapping spree that began in May last year.

The leader of the extremist Abu Sayyaf group may have been killed in a clash with government troops, unconfirmed reports say. The Philippine military has been quoted as saying Abu Sabaya may be among those killed in clashes in Zamboanga Del Norte province. "There was an encounter. We still can't determine if one of them (killed) is Sabaya. We have captured some of them and we will try to find out," Reuters reported a military official, who asked not to be named, as saying.

An American from Alabama wanted for aiding Somalia-based terrorists was added to the FBI's "most wanted terrorists" list Wednesday. Omar Shafik Hammami, 28, was indicted in Alabama five years ago for traveling to Somalia to assist al-Shabaab, which the U.S. has designated a foreign terrorist organization. Hammani, a U.S. citizen, is believed to be in Somalia now and should be considered armed and dangerous, the FBI said. The FBI also added Raddulan Sahiron, a Filipino wanted for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping of an American in the Philippines in 1993, to the "most wanted terrorists" list.

The Philippine military said it killed a man who is on the FBI most-wanted terror list and two other senior militants Thursday in a predawn airstrike on a remote southern island. About 15 militants died in the early morning airstrike on the island province of Sulu, part of the autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao, according to a spokesman for the Philippines armed forces. The dead included two senior figures in Jemaah Islamiyah and members of the militant group Abu Sayyaf, said Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos, the spokesman.

Gun-wielding attackers aboard small vessels opened fire on a group of fishing boats in a restive area of the southern Philippines, killing 15 people in an apparent turf dispute between fishermen, the military authorities said Tuesday. The three fishing boats from the large island of Mindanao were near the tiny island of Sibago when they were attacked Monday morning by about six men on three smaller craft, said Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos, a spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

A Filipino-American woman abducted in July in the Philippines was found Sunday night on an island stronghold of the Islamic militant group Abu Sayyaf, a Philippine National Police official said. Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann, 43, was found at Suba Kampong township on the Philippine island of Basilan, said Bienvenido Latag of the Philippine National Police. Latag did not say whether Lunsmann was released by her captors, though a number of Philippine news agencies are reporting she was freed on the island and walked to the township.

Gunmen abducted two American citizens along with their Filipino relative from a southern Philippines island Tuesday, police said. At about 3 a.m., 14 armed men snatched Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann, 43, her son, Kevin, 14, and Lunsmann's Filipino nephew, Romnick Jakaria, 19, said Nonito Asbai, the area's police chief inspector. Police and the Filipino navy have launched search operations, Asbai said. The victims were forced at gunpoint to board awaiting boats, which then sped toward the troubled island of Basilan, a stronghold of the Islamic militant group Abu Sayyaf.

Fighting raged between militants and security forces on a southern Philippine island where al Qaeda-linked militants are active, a top Filipino military official said Tuesday. At least 11 people died, including three marines, a police officer, four civilians and three militants, according to Western Mindanao Command regional military commander Lt. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino. Dolorfino said about 25 suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf extremist group disguised in police and military uniforms launched attacks in Isabela City, the capital of the island of Basilan.

Marines killed seven suspected Abu Sayyaf members during a pre-dawn raid in the southern Philippines, state-run media reported. The amphibious assault was carried out early Sunday in the town of Siasi, on the southern island of Sulu, said Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, a navy spokesman, according to the Philippine News Agency. Abu Sayyaf does not routinely comment on such encounters and did not immediately confirm the raid or any losses. The raid comes three weeks after marines killed Abu Sayyaf leader Albader Parad and five of his men during an assault in Maimbung.

Two U.S. service members were killed in the Philippines when their vehicle rolled over a landmine Tuesday morning, military officials said. The service members with the Joint Special Operations Task Force were getting supplies for a school on the island of Jolo when their vehicle struck the explosive, said U.S. Navy Capt. Jeff Breslau. Authorities were investigating the incident, Breslau said. Jolo is one of many islands in the Southeast Asian nation. Several Islamic militant groups, some of which have ties to al Qaeda, are active in the region and want to establish a separate state for the country's minority Muslim population, according to the U.S. State Department.

Police in the Philippines have paid an informant in the arrest of a militant tied to the kidnapping of four Americans and dozens of Filipinos. Hajer Adjuan Sailani, who also goes by the name Abu Ajair, was captured last week in a mall in Cotabato City, the Philippine National Police said Tuesday. Authorities say Ajair is a member of Abu Sayyaf, a group that the U.S. State Department has designated as a terrorist organization linked to al Qaeda. The informant received $7,100 (350,000 Philippine pesos)