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ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP) - Three Filipina aid workers have been released by Islamic militants who abducted them in the southern Philippines, a senior military official said Tuesday.
Two other aid workers remain in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf group on the island of Basilan, Rear Admiral Emilio Marayag told reporters.
The five, who worked for a group funded by a Malaysian charity, were abducted on Monday in an area known as a hotbed of the Abu Sayyaf, which the military says has ties to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.
Earlier reports said there were three women and a man in the group, but Marayag said five from a group of 12 people in an aid convoy were abducted after their vehicles were stopped by armed men near the town of Tipo-Tipo.
Marayag, navy commander in the southwestern Philippines, said the women were recovered by pursuing government forces near Tipo-Tipo and were undergoing a military debriefing.
He did not say whether they were harmed by the kidnappers.
They worked for the Christian Children's Fund and the Nagdilaab Foundation, a Christian-Muslim charity.
Both are active in various humanitarian projects in Basilan, off this southern port. --AFP
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