Philippines shoot-out with Muslim rebels

A few Abu Sayyaf hostages were released last week

In the Philippines six members of a militant Muslim group and two government militiamen have been killed in a gun battle.

Police say about a dozen members of the Abu Sayyaf group attacked an army and police patrol in the town of Talipao in the Sulu Islands, south of Zamboanga.

Two government militiamen were also injured. Government soldiers were able to repulse a second attack by Abu Sayyaf reinforcements, according to police.

Muslim militants have promised more executions

Earlier this week the group - which is campaigning for a separate Islamic state - announced that it had beheaded two of a group of hostages it was holding.

The government had rejected the group's demands to secure the release of three foreign Muslims being held in the United States - among them Ramzi Youssef, convicted of masterminding the 1993 bombing of New York's World Trade Centre.

There is no independent confirmation that the executions were carried out.

Propaganda

The Philippine Government has voiced doubts that the executions went ahead.

Defence Secretary Orlando Mercado has accused the rebel group of playing games to attract international attention.

Abu Sayyaf have threatened further executions if their demands are not met.

Revenge twist

In a twist to the hostage crisis, a group of vigilantes announced on Thursday that it would retaliate against the Abu Sayyaf group to avenge the executions.

The group said it would kill some of their own hostages, relatives of the Abu Sayyaf leader Khaddafy Janjalani.

An Abu Sayyaf unit on Basilan Island, just north of Sulu province, has been holding 27 hostages since 20 March.

Dozens of vigilantes searched for the bodies of the two supposed beheading victims in the jungle near the Abu Sayyaf's hideout.

Mr Mercado has said the government would not allow the vigilantes to take action on their own because "the problem will just worsen".

The army is planning its own rescue operation to free the hostages, mostly children, teachers and a Catholic priest. the attack, he said.

The provincial governor has set a deadline of 30 April for the hostages to be released.

Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for a series of kidnappings and bomb attacks on Christian targets since the early 1990s.