German, three others freed in southern Philippines

MANILA, June 1 (Reuters) A German treasure hunter and three Filipino companions taken captive for five hours by Muslim gunmen have been turned over to soldiers in the southern Philippines, a Marine general said today.

Major-General Benjamin Dolorfino said Thomas Wallraf and his three companions were in high spirits and good condition although they were a bit shaken by their ordeal at the hands of armed men who seized them yesterday in North Cotabato province.

''They're okay,'' Dolorfino told reporters after Muslim rebels talking peace with the government rescued the four captives from armed men in a wooded area in Pikit town, five hours after their van was intercepted.

Previous reports had said all or at least two of the captives were Westerners.

Dolorfino said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest of four Muslim rebel groups in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country, handed over the freed captives to Malaysian peace monitors in Cotabato City today.

The Malaysians later turned over the four captives, wearing camouflage t-shirts with large MILF logos, to army commanders.

''We were pretty scared, we didn't expect to be rescued by rebels,'' Wallraf told reporters, thanking the MILF for freeing and treating them well. ''I would continue doing business here.'' Dolofino said the German, his Filipina wife and her friend, along with a driver, went to North Cotabato on Wednesday night to meet a local trader offering to sell them gold bars and items made of a nickel alloy.

But they were intercepted by armed men in military uniform and brought to a wooded area where MILF rebels were known to be operating.

''They made a mistake when they strayed into our area,'' said Eid Kabalu, spokesman for the MILF, adding the armed men were forced to free the four captives after the rebels fired a round of rocket-propelled grenades.

''The armed men were initially demanding a board-and-lodging fee for the four people but they agreed to free the captives when our forces displayed their firepower.'' The four captives spent the night at the MILF base and were handed over to the Malaysians and later to Philippine soldiers in Cotabato City.

Kabalu said the MILF rebels had signed an agreement with the government in May 2002 promising to help Philippine security forces ''isolate and interdict'' criminal gangs operating within Muslim rebel areas of Mindanao.

REUTERS DS VV1440