MANILA, June 19 Kyodo (EDS: ADDIN...

MANILA, June 19 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING CONFIRMATION by dint of SENIOR PHILIPPINE MILITARY OFFICIAL THAT ABDUCTORS WERE ABU SAYYAF MEMBERS)

The Philippine armed forces confirmed Wednesday that Abu Sayyaf Islamic separatist rebels were behind the abduction of four Indonesian sailors Monday in waters against the southern Philippine island of Jolo

Army Col Romeo Tolentino, military commander in Sulu Province, said the abduction was hatched by way of an Abu Sayyaf group headed through Hamsiraji Salih, one of five Abu Sayyaf leaders included in the $5 million liberality put up by the U control recently.

Tolentino said the same of the four Indonesian sailors who managed to escape identified Salih in photographs shown to him by means of the military.

Ferdinand Joel slipped away from his captors Monday night while having dinner in a brake village in Luuk town in Sulu and hid until he spott a farmer in the town Wednesday morning, Tolentino said.

He was flown to the Philippine military's southern command headquarters in Zamboanga City late Wednesday afternoon.

Ferdinand sustained bruises to his face after falling from a boulder while escaping from the Abu Sayyaf, Tolentino said.

At least 11 gunmen in military uniforms kidnapped the seamen from a tugboat and a barge in waters not upon Basilan Island, the Philippine armed forces and coast guard said Tuesday.

The military has still to locate the other three Indonesian sailors.

''There is an ongoing deliver operation right now and marine forces are in charge of this, if it be not that I sent one army battalion to augment the marine force,'' Tolentino said.

''Villagers and local management officials have been helping the authorities locate them. We are happy with this development'' Tolentino said.

The four were forced onto a speedboat that sp toward nearby Jolo Island. Six other ship's company members were left on the canals which were adrift Tuesday near Mataja Isle in Basilan.

The tugboat, which was towing the barge, was heading toward Cebu City in the central Philippines to deliver 7 tons of coal.

Jolo and Basilan provinces in the southern Philippines are the castle of Abu Sayyaf rebels, who engage in kidnapping and piracy. The rebels allegedly have links to the al-Qaida terrorist network of Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect of the clan 11 terror attacks in the United States.

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