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The Philippine army, on the other hand, has moved the war against the Abu Sayyaf group beyond Jolo, hunting the group in nearby Zamboanga and Basilan islands.

In a related development, Jeffrey Schilling, the 24-year-old American being held by an Abu Sayyaf faction in Sulu, contacted the U.S. Embassy in Manila. Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon disclosed this after he met with the visiting commander of all American forces in Asia and the Pacific.

"We talked about Schilling for a while. Schilling contacted the U.S. Embassy recently . . . but I cannot discuss the details on that," Siazon said.

The Malaysian Minister of Defense, Najib Tun Razak said Manila should adopt a "comprehensive approach" rather than relying solely on force, in addressing the security problems in Jolo. He said the Filipinos should talk to moderate Muslim leaders in the South.

This statement from the minister came after confirmed reports that the group holding the Malaysian and American hostages threatened they will eliminate all foreign captives if the Philippine army continues to attempt commando operations against them.

Najib, known for his straight forwardness, said that the Jolo crisis could not be dealt with as a purely military solution. He said Manila should engage with moderate leaders who should eventually be given backing in the form of economic assistance so people would support them.

"If moderate leaders are discredited, then extremists will emerge as leaders of the people," he said, continuing on that, "Violence begets violence."

Observers in Sabah said that the minister might have been motivated to urge the Philippines to negotiate in order to try save the life of the three Malaysians still being held in Jolo.

Nevertheless, Malaysia's defense minister may have opened the way for negotiators to reactivate their arsenal of diplomatic approaches to the Jolo crisis.

"It may also backlash against Malaysia and temporarily affect the relationship between both countries if the Filipino government takes the minister's comments like an interference in their internal security affair," an observer told Islam Online over the phone.

After the Pandanan kidnapping of the three Malaysian hostages one month ago, the Philippines has accused the Malaysians of having done little to prevent the kidnappers from entering Malaysian territory. Security at the stretch of islands in Borneo was almost inexistent.

The Malaysian government has since beefed up its military presence in the region and more patrol boats can be seen around the islands.

Malaysia and Indonesia played a major role in the peace talks between the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Filipino government. Manila made peace with the (MNLF) in 1996 after a revolt.

Kuala Lumpur also helped in the release of the first 21 hostages taken by the Abu Sayyaf from the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan in March this year. The Filipino army tried to free the Sipadan hostages using military force but failed in their attempts.

They ended their assault after Malaysia's government urged them to consider diplomatic channels.

The hostages were released on guarantees from Libya of a multi-million U.S. dollar investment plan in Jolo and other Sayyaf-held islands. Libya and Malaysia are said to have paid an unspecified amount of cash to the Abu Sayyaf for the release.

While troops entered into their 12th day in Jolo's rescue operation, they have been outrun several times by the fast moving "terrain experts" Abu Sayyaf who are still holding one American, three Malaysians and 17 other Filipino hostages.

Although outnumbered at least 10 to one, Abu Sayyaf gunmen are outrunning their Philippine military pursuers who waging an uphill battle trying to rescue 17 hostages, officials concede.

More than 4,000 troops and police swarmed on the southern island of Jolo expecting to "destroy" the Muslim extremists and pluck out the hostages in a week. They failed and are now said to be searching for a way out of the conflict.

Two French captives escaped last week, but the only other results of the military operation invading Sulu, the capital of Jolo, was the displacement of more than 36,000 Jolo residents.

Abu Sayyaf core groups have remained intact amidst unconfirmed military reports that 100 of them have been killed in the conflict. The campaign could last at least another week but the "situation changes from day to day," military spokesman Brigadier-General Generoso Senga said Tuesday.

Military chief of staff General Angelo Reyes admitted on Monday that the 400-member guerrilla force's hit and run tactics had thrown the timetable awry.

"The forest cover of Mount Tumantangis is really thick," a military officer taking part in the campaign said, referring to a 2,600-foot (788-meter) peak on Jolo's western flank where Abu Sayyaf leader Galib Andang has taken refuge with 12 Filipino preachers as human shields.

One Abu Sayyaf faction holding U.S. hostage Jeffrey Schilling and another faction with a Filipino hostage is playing a cat and mouse game with the army in the mountains of western Jolo.

A third faction is believed to hold three Malaysians, though the military have not spotted them for two weeks.

A local Muslim leader, Jacob Ismi, told reporters the army raided the Tulay mosque in the area overnight and seized eight guns from the building.

Philippine troops that raided the downtown Jolo mosque on Monday night arrested 18 men. Eight of the men were later cleared and released, and police took custody of the rest.

Ismi, the Grand Imam of southwestern Philippines, accused the soldiers of desecrating the mosque, saying they had failed to leave their boots outside and toppled a copy of the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, from its perch.

"I have nothing against military movements, but the thing is, they should have warned us in advance," Ismi said.

Reports from military intelligence units reaching the press disclosed that an ongoing clash has been raging in Barangay Tayungan, Panamao, Sulu since Friday morning.

The targets, a source said, include the strongholds of Abu Sayyaf leaders in Talipao.

Commander Robot is believed to be holed up in the Liang Cave in Barangay Binuang, Talipao, and Abu Sabaya in the boundary of Indanan and Talipao.

Two more Philippine soldiers were reported killed and eight others wounded in the military operation to rescue 17 hostages from Abu Sayyaf Muslim guerillas, said military sources.

A 30-member Abu Sayyaf unit ambushed an army patrol near Talipao town on Jolo island on Monday afternoon, leaving one infantryman dead and four others wounded, a military spokesmen in Manila said.

In another encounter, also on Monday, an army corporal was killed and four soldiers wounded near Maimbung town, Lieutenant Leo Ungao told an AFP reporter on the island. Military spokesmen in Manila could not immediately confirm the report.

Two Abu Sayyaf suspects were also gunned down by a Marine company near a freshly vacated guerilla camp on Mount Tayungan in eastern Jolo on Monday.

"The Abu Sayyaf is getting tired. We will keep on pressing the operation and hopefully we will get the hostages," said the operation commander, Brigadier-General Narciso Abaya.

But military spokesman Generoso Senga said "it's possible" that Abu Sayyaf units have melted into the civilian population, since "many of them are their relatives."

Senga said the guerrillas "have been dispersed into small groups" organized to harass advancing military columns.

Meanwhile, a leading Malaysian Muslim movement accused Manila on Tuesday of carrying out genocide against its Muslim minority.

"We are gravely concerned with the indiscriminate use of force by the armed forces of the Philippines in their efforts to punish the Abu Sayyaf rebels for the latter's kidnapping spree," said the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM).

The 100,000-member movement, citing the current attacks and previous assaults on the MNLF and MILF, said, "the pattern of war in Mindanao and Jolo is more of a genocide than anything else."

ABIM said civilians were bearing the brunt of the attack on the kidnappers, whom it also condemned.