Abu Sayyaf frees 2 students as 'gesture of gratitude'

ISABELA, Basilan -- Abu Sayyaf guerrillas freed two hostages yesterday after vigilantes released the pregnant wife and one-year-old daughter of their leader Khadaffy Janjalani.

But the group's spokesman Abu Asmad Salayuddin insisted that they had not swapped captives, but that it was a gesture of gratitude to the government-initiated Crisis Management Committee (CMC).

"We released a male and female student of Claret High School-Tumahubong after our meeting with the CMC," he said. "They were freed due to humanitarian grounds."

Salayuddin said the hostages were turned over to the CMC led by Eliza del Fuerte, chairman of the Christian Children Fund, along with some members of the Commission on Human Rights.

Earlier reports said the Abu Sayyaf, now known as Al Harakatul Islamia, promised to free 15 of their 33 hostages, but Salayuddin said they had not made that commitment.

It was just the CMC's perception after the group of Commander Abdul Mijal released Janjalani's wife and daughter, he added.

"We have not made any promise," he said "It could be the CMC which did that," he said. "In fact they asked for it, so we have given them two of our visitors (hostages)."

Salayuddin said Janjalani had already talked with his wife through a two-way radio early yesterday morning, during which she said she and their daughter were safe.

The CMC is optimistic that the remaining two sets of hostages would be freed before April 15, the date set by Mijal for killing Janjalani's relatives.

But Salayuddin said the Abu Sayyaf is still firm in its demand to negotiate with action star Robin Padilla, a Vatican representative, and a group of Ulamas to free the hostages.

Meanwhile Navy patrol boats stopped a ferry loaded with 1,000 sacks of rice believed to be intended for the Abu Sayyaf, whose food supplies are no longer sufficient. -