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Kidnap Group Not Allowed to Negotiate with U.S.
MANILA, Aug 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Philippines military on Tuesday rejected an offer by the Abu Sayyaf to negotiate with leaders of the United States for the release of its American hostages, news sources said in Manila.
Colonel Hermogenes Esperon, the Philippine Army's 103rd Infantry Brigade commander, said that the military recovered documents that prove the Abu Sayyaf attempted to approach the United States over the fate of its American hostages.
Esperon said that the military was able to recover documents containing the name of U.S. President George W. Bush and White House telephone numbers.
He said that the documents were recovered after the military's encounter with the bandit group in Lantawan, Basilan.
The U.S. earlier said the Philippines government and military should deal with the Abu Sayyaf group in order to ensure peace and safety in the region.
The Abu Sayyaf said it had executed one of the U.S. hostages, but has so far failed to provide any proof of the beheading.
The Philippines is also dealing with another hostage crisis involving former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) members, who are holding a Chinese engineer hostage.
The military on Wednesday also rejected a call for negotiations by the kidnappers who have threatened to behead a Chinese and Filipino hostage.
"We shouldn't be negotiating with these kidnappers," said military chief General Diomedio Villanueva. "We cannot again place whole communities and the country hostage to the whims and desires of kidnappers."
Villanueva repeated the government's policy of refusing to pay ransoms for the two hostages being held by renegade members of the MILF in the southern island of Mindanao.
Two other Chinese hostages were killed while a third escaped during a gun battle between the army and the kidnappers Sunday.
Chinese authorities, expressing deep concern over the deaths of its citizens, have demanded an explanation of the incident from Philippine authorities.
The Filipino military said the renegade MILF members deliberately shot the hostages after seeing the advancing troops.
The Chinese were working for a firm building a Japan-funded irrigation project in the southern Philippines.
Kidnap leader Abu Hamsa told local radio station DXMS Tuesday that his group "will negotiate with the families of our hostages if the military will cease operations."
But he warned his group would "kill, behead or execute the remaining hostages" unless the military halted operations in the area.
The MILF has dissociated itself from the group saying that the kidnappers were not members of the largest Islamic group in the country.
Eid Kabalu, of the MILF, said the incident would not affect ongoing peace talks between the Philippines and the MILF, who signed a peace treaty in Kuala Lumpur last month with the government.
The Abu Sayyaf guerrillas holding the hostages have repeatedly eluded attempts at capture despite the government sending more than 5,000 troops to the island.
They have killed at least 14 Filipino captives since the crisis began in May and are believed to have beheaded an American hostage, although his body has not yet been found.
With additional reporting by Kazi Mahmood
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