ZAMBOANGA CITY, 15 May 2006 — Fighters of a separatist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels currently negotiating peace with Manila rescued a nine-year old girl kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf bandits in the southern Philippine island of Basilan, officials said.

Officials said rebel forces captured two men holding Donna May Ramos and rescued the girl Saturday evening in the hinterland village of Limbo Upas in Tipo-Tipo town, a known stronghold of the MILF. They said the rebels were working closely with the authorities.

The fate of the two men was unknown, but the rebels handed the girl to authorities. “The girl was rescued alright and there is a good coordination between security and rebel forces,” Brig. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, the island’s military commander, told Arab News.

He said politicians headed by former Tuburan town mayor Hajarun Jamiri and Lamitan mayor Roderick Furigay and the island’s police chief Clifford Gairanod helped in the rescue.

He said the rebels, headed by Bonie Salih, seized the kidnappers when they tried to hide their hostage in Tipo-Tipo town. “Unknown to the kidnappers, military and police authorities and MILF forces were already working closely to recover the girl safely, and we did,” Ferrer said.

Authorities said the girl — daughter of Councilor Donnel Ramos of Lamitan town — was kidnapped May 10 by two men identified as Jaid Awalal and Jaljani Isnilon while playing with a friend in Lamitan town. Her family opened private negotiations to seek the girl’s freedom without paying ransom. The victim’s father told authorities they would not file criminal charges against the kidnappers. “We asked Donnel if he would file charges against the kidnappers, and he said no and they only wanted to see the girl freed safely,” Furigay said.

A faction of the Abu Sayyaf group is still holding a kidnapped pharmacy owner Bren Vergarra, 41, in Jolo island. His 70-year old mother, Caridad, who was also kidnapped April 12, was freed two weeks later.

The Abu Sayyaf originally demanded two million pesos ransom for the victim's freedom.

The Abu Sayyaf group is included in the US foreign terror list and Washington offered as much as $10 million bounty for the capture of its leader Khadaffy Janjalani, who masterminded the 2001 kidnapping of three American citizens in Palawan island in central Philippines and later killed two of them.