ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

By TERESA CEROJANO / AP WRITER / MANILA | Muslim militants released seven construction workers they kidnapped a week ago after Philippine troops went on the offensive and took over the gunmen's hide-out on southern Basilan Island, a military spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

The hostages—road construction workers who were snatched after hauling beach sand on a dump truck—were freed unharmed following negotiations led by a Basilan town mayor, said military spokeswoman Lt Steffani Cacho.

She said no ransom was paid, unlike in previous kidnapping cases.

The hostages were handed over to the mayor's emissaries in coastal Tuburan Township, about 30 miles (50 km) from Al-Barka, where five marines were killed and 25 wounded in Sunday's clashes with al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf gunmen and members of the main Muslim separatist group.

Cacho said troops were pursuing the militants, blamed for a recent spike in ransom kidnappings on Basilan, when they came under attack after occupying high ground in Al-Barka, a notorious transit point for criminals, kidnappers and rebels.

The Abu Sayyaf group, numbering about 300 gunmen, has gained notoriety for bombings and beheading their hostages, and is on a US list of terrorist organizations with links to al-Qaida.

The militants are still holding a 9-year-old girl and a nursing student they recently seized on Basilan.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the largest separatist group that has been negotiating with the government, also has a camp in Al-Barka, but its spokesman Eid Kabalu denied the rebels were involved in the kidnappings or that they were sheltering Abu Sayyaf militants.

Kabalu accused government troops of attacking the rebel camp on Sunday. He said three rebels were killed, including the head of a local ceasefire team.