UPDATE - Indonesia thanks Manila after crew, Norwegian freed

UPDATES THROUGHOUT

By Hader Glang and Ainur Rohmah

ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines/ TUBAN, Indonesia (AA) – Indonesia’s defense minister thanked Manila and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebel group Sunday after Abu Sayyaf militants released three Indonesians and a Norwegian in the Philippines’ Muslim south.

“We know the Armed Forces of the Philippines deployed around 10,000 troops [recently] and currently there are 20,000 in the [southern] region to crush the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group,” Ryamizard Ryacudu told reporters at a military camp during a visit to southern Zamboanga City.

After the four hostages were freed over the weekend following negotiations facilitated by MNLF -- which is engaged in a peace process with the Philippines government -- the men were hosted by the rebel group’s fugitive founder, Nur Misuari, in the island province of Sulu before being transported to Davao City. They were accompanied by Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza.

In Davao, President Rodrigo Duterte was due to meet Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad, who was kidnapped from a resort on the island of Samal in September 2015 alongside two Canadians who were beheaded earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the three Indonesian fishermen were transported to Zamboanga City, where Minister Ryacudu was visiting during negotiations, and underwent medical examinations and debriefing at a military camp.

The fishermen -- who were abducted off eastern Malaysia in mid-July -- attended a press conference alongside Ryacudu and the Philippines’ Western Mindanao Command chief, Lieut. Gen. Mayoralgo dela Cruz.

One of the crew told reporters through an interpreter that life in the captivity of the Abu Sayyaf in the jungles of Sulu had been very difficult and "more like death”.

"So we are requesting the Philippine government to keep its operation going on and as much as possible to crush this Abu Sayyaf group," he said.

"I feel so relieved that I am free from that very remote place and I can now return to being [healthy] because I was thinking that I have been beheaded,” he added, expressing gratitude to the Philippines' government and armed forces as well as the MNLF.

Dela Cruz confirmed that 18 hostages remain in Abu Sayyaf captivity, among them “a Dutch, five Malaysians, six Indonesians and some locals”.

He refused to confirm whether the group also held another three Malaysians who were reported to have been kidnapped off Malaysia, and said, “we're still monitoring if the kidnappers are really from the group because those fishermen were taken from the waters of Sabah.”

The Indonesian minister denied reports that a 10 million peso ($209,000) ransom was paid for the release of the fishermen, stressing “we stick to the no ransom payment method.”

The Philippines’ presidential palace has also insisted that the government is unwavering in its refusal to give in to the militant group’s demands, despite reports claiming ransoms were paid.

“I would like to reiterate that the government maintains the no-ransom policy. Now, if a third party or the family gives ransom, we do not know,” Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar told local radio station dzRB.

Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf -- armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles -- has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortion in a self-determined fight for an independent province in the Philippines.

It is one of two militant groups in the south to have pledged allegiance to Daesh, prompting fears during the stalling of a peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that it could make inroads in a region torn by decades of armed conflict.

In 2013, Misuari’s MNLF faction laid siege to the majority-Christian city of Zamboanga to protest a peace process by the MILF, which Misuari claims leaves Muslims in the country’s south shortchanged in comparison to an earlier MNLF peace deal.