Filipino talks delayed after 'troop surprise'

A first round of formal talks to end the four-week hostage crisis in the southern Philippines has been postponed again.

Officials said some soldiers had came too close to the meeting site, where government negotiators and the Muslim rebels holding twenty-one mostly foreign hostages had agreed to meet.

One of the government negotiators Farouk Hussein said there had been a mistake in army orders; an envoy was sent to reassure the seperatist rebels from the Abu Sayyaf group, but had been unable to contact them in time for the meeting to be rearranged today.

The chief Philippine government negotiator, Roberto Aventajado, says Abu Sayyaf have now moved their hostages to an unknown location on the island of Jolo, and they will try to contact them tomorrow Saturday.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service