Government warns kidnappers over hostage safety

(CNN) -- Philippine military officials say that if the Abu Sayyaf carry out their threat to kill any of their hostages, they will "only create more problems" for themselves.

"Of course, all the statements of (spokesman) Abu Sabaya have been taken with concern and studied, (but) our reaction is to advise him to desist," military spokesperson General Edilberto Adan told CNN.

"He will be a pariah in the Muslim world, because even the Philippines' Islamic leaders think it is a blatant violation of the Koran. There will be no mileage points in going to paradise," he said.

Earlier one of the country's biggest Muslim insurgency groups, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, denounced the Abu Sayyaf, saying they were "not considered as a revolutionary group" fighting for the independence of the country's Muslim minority.

But the threat, as well as the latest reported kidnapping of children from a plantation in the Southern Philippine island of Basilan has added a sense of urgency to the crisis.

Adan said the government was considering several requests from the Abu Sayyaf, including a possible change in the existing hostage negotiating team.

He said the government was also trying to clarify why spokesman Abu Sabaya requested the presence of Malaysian negotiators who had been involved in last year's kidnapping of tourists from the resort island of Sipadan.

Government spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao has already said they had no objections to the presence of one negotiator, Sairin Karno, as long as he received the blessing of the Malaysian government.

Adan also said the government was considering unspecified offers of assistance from Libya's leader, Col. Moamar Ghadaffi.

"President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been in touch with Ghadaffi, and he's agreed to our government's no ransom policy," Adan said.

"He's tried to offer his help, but the exact nature of help is unclear. It could come in the form of mediation, since they were involved last year," he said.

Libya paid a key role in securing the release of hostages kidnapped from Sipadan last year.

There were unconfirmed reports that Ghadaffi paid as much as US$1 million for the release of each western hostage.