ZAMBOANGA CITY, 17 October 2003 — The Philippine military denied reports yesterday that six people kidnapped from a tourist resort in Sabah, Malaysia, were taken to the southern Philippine island of Jolo.

A local television said the hostages — two Filipinos and four Indonesians — are being held by Abu Sayyaf leader Radullan Sahiron, whose group is also holding captive Dr. Romeo Lao, 56, and his nephew Amor Rubio, 16.

Lao and Rubio were kidnapped in Jolo on Oct. 5.

A military spokesman, Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero, said the reports were not true and that security officials in Jolo have denied that the Abu Sayyaf gang was behind the kidnapping of the six workers of the Borneo Paradise resort.

“The reports are false and the hostages were not taken to Jolo. They probably are still in Sabah, as what Malaysian officials are saying, but we are closely coordinating with them and helping in the search for the hostages,” he told reporters.

But he was quick to say that they were checking all reports about the hostages.

Ten gunmen raided the Borneo Paradise and seized the workers after finding no Westerners in the resort. Both Malaysia and the Philippines initially suspected the Abu Sayyaf group was behind the raid. Malaysian security officials said the kidnappers sped off toward southern Philippines by boat.

But Philippine military chief Gen. Narciso Abaya said there were no indications the Abu Sayyaf was involved or the hostages had been taken to Tawi-Tawi or Jolo, the Philippines’ southernmost provinces.

The kidnappers have demanded 60 million Malaysian ringgits ($15.2 million) in exchange for the safe release of the 6 hostages, Malaysian officials had said.

A man, who claimed to be one of the kidnappers, used a cell phone in making the demand to the Malaysian government, the resort owner and families of the victims. The call was traced to Jolo.

Philippine authorities have tagged Sahiron as one of those who kidnapped 24 Asian and European holiday-makers from the island resorts of Pulau Sipadan and Pulau Pandanan off Sabah in a daring cross-border raid in 2000.

The hostages were ransomed by Libya and Malaysia for more than $10 million after the Philippines allowed them to negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf. The rebels used most of the money to purchase weapons and to finance their violent activities in the southern Philippines.

Authorities have also blamed the Abu Sayyaf rebels for the spate of bombings and kidnappings in the south. Last year, guerrillas detonated bombs in Zamboanga City, killing dozens of people, including a Filipino soldier and a US soldier participating in a joint RP-US anti-terrorism warfare.

The US and the Philippines have implicated the Abu Sayyaf over the killing of two American kidnap victims Californian Guillermo Sobero in 2001 in Basilan island and Kansas missionary Martin Burnham in 2002 during a US-backed rescue operation in Zamboanga del Norte province.

Washington has included the Abu Sayyaf group in its list of foreign terrorist organizations and offered as much as $5 million bounty for the capture of each of five known rebel leaders implicated in the killing of Sobero and Burnham.

The Abu Sayyaf has threatened to attack US interests in the Philippines, where President George W. Bush is expected to visit on Oct. 18.