Rebels Seek Ransom, Will Free 2 of 21 Captives, Police Say

The Muslim rebels who took hostages at a lush island resort will soon free two Malaysians and are demanding a ransom of $2.4 million for the release of their 19 other captives, Philippine police said Wednesday.

By all accounts, the kidnappers were holding some of the hostages in the remote Philippine province of Sulu--about an hour’s boat ride from Sipadan Island, the Malaysian diving site where the abduction took place Sunday.

A senior police official in Sulu, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed the ransom demand and said the kidnappers would release the two Malaysians because they are Muslim. The hostages include at least 10 foreign tourists.

Nur Misuari, a former rebel leader who now heads a Muslim autonomous region in the southern Philippines, said the kidnappers are members of the Abu Sayyaf rebel group fighting for an independent Islamic state in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines.

Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado, who visited Sulu on Wednesday, said the hostages have been divided into several groups and are being moved around in an area near Jolo, capital of the southern Sulu province.

Ronaldo Zamora, a presidential aide, said he was told by a former rebel leader that some hostages are in Tawi Tawi, a nearby province.

He said President Joseph Estrada has appointed Misuari as the government’s negotiator with the kidnappers.

Mercado said government officials have had no direct contact with the kidnappers.

Those seized Sunday include tourists from Germany, France, South Africa, Finland and Lebanon. They also include a Philippine worker and nine Malaysians, authorities said. The nationality of one hostage was not known.

Five people were detained Wednesday in Sabah, a Malaysian state in the north of the island of Borneo, police said, bringing to 10 the number of people under interrogation in the kidnapping.

Meanwhile, at the Abu Sayyaf stronghold in southern Basilan province, Philippine troops continued to pound several outlying camps in an attempt to free 27 Philippine hostages kidnapped more than five weeks ago. At least 10 rebels and five soldiers have died in the assault, which began Saturday.

The group has demanded freedom for three men imprisoned in the United States, including Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, convicted of masterminding the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, and co-conspirator Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman.