Obstacle to Jolo hostage release cleared

ZAMBOANGA (PHILIPPINES), AUG. 26. An obstacle to the possible release this weekend of several foreign hostages held by Muslim guerillas in southern Philippines was cleared as a local court freed two suspects believed to be linked to the rebels.

The rebels had today threatened to behead some of their captives if the duo, who had been arrested by police earlier, were not released, sources close to the negotiations for the hostage release said.

The two suspects were arrested in Zamboanga city on Thursday while trying to change $ 245,000, believed to be part of the ransom used to secure the release of hostages from the fundamentalist Abu Sayyaf rebels previously, into pesos.

The suspects' lawyer, Mr. Paulino Ersando, said a local court ordered the release of the suspects after they posted bail of 120,000 pesos each ($ 2,666).

``They rode a motorcycle after they left the courthouse but I don't know where they are now,'' Mr. Ersando told Reuters, adding he believed they had gone with relatives.

He said the suspects had been charged as accessories to the kidnapping by the guerillas of foreign and Filipino hostages and their detention in their jungle hideout on southern Jolo island.

Abu Sayyaf rebel chieftain, Galib Andang, was fuming when he called government emissaries by phone on Friday and warned ``I will cut off their (the hostages) heads,'' if the pair was not freed immediately, the sources said.

The sources, who asked not to be identified, said the outburst by Andang did not sound like a serious threat to harm the hostages and appeared to be an expression of anger.

- Reuters

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Section  : International
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