Ethnic Baluch separatists had earlier claimed responsibility for the abduction and at one point threatened to kill Mr Solecki — the highest-profile Westerner to be kidnapped in Pakistan since Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was beheaded in 2002. News of Mr Solecki’s release came as a suicide bomber attacked a crowded Shia mosque in central Pakistan, killing at least 28 people.

Shakil Baloch, a spokesman for the Baluch Liberation United Front (BLUF), one of several separatist groups fighting for greater autonomy in Pakistan, told local journalists that Mr Solecki was released on humanitarian grounds. “We want to give a message to the international community that Baluch are not terrorist,” he said.

Rehman Malik, the federal Interior Minister, said that Mr Solecki was freed because of personal intervention by President Zardari. Some sources in the Government said that his release was agreed in negotiations with the BLUF involving Pakistani and US officials. “There was certainly a trade- off,” one official said.

The BLUF, which is fighting for greater autonomy for Baluchistan, had been demanding the release of Zarina Baloch, a women’s rights activist, and several others being held by security forces. Human rights groups say hundreds of Baluch nationalists have been detained without trial since security forces killed Akbar Bugti, a former governor of Baluchistan and nationalist leader, in 2005.

The Government has already freed some of the detainees that the BLUF wants released, and has promised to find out about others. It is not clear whether those released included Ms Baloch, who rights activists say was taken away by security forces a few years ago and was also allegedly raped, although the Government denies detaining her.

Harbiar Marri, a Baluch separatist leader now living in London, is also believed to have played a significant role in securing Mr Solecki’s release. The Pakistani Government has sought the extradition of Mr Marri, whose brother, Balach Marri, lead the insurgency in Baluchistan and was killed by security forces two years ago.

Baloch provincial and UN officials declined to comment on the reasons for Mr Solecki’s release.

Jennifer Pagonis, a UN spokesman, said only that he was flown to the United States by special medical flight early yesterday morning after spending the night in a military hospital in Quetta. “He seemed OK this morning,” Ms Pagonis said.

Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, said that he was grateful for the efforts to secure Mr Solecki’s release, citing Mr Zardari and President Karzai of Afghanistan.

His release was a rare piece of good news in Pakistan, which has suffered a wave of kidnappings, bombings and commando-style attacks in the past year, mostly blamed on Islamic militants based in northwestern Pakistan.

The militants apparently struck again yesterday when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a crowded Shia mosque in the town of Chakwal, central Pakistan, killing at least 28 people and wounding more than 50.

A senior police officer said that the bomber, believed to be in his teens, detonated his explosive after he was stopped by security guards at the entrance of the mosque, where 2,000 worshippers were gathered. “The casualties would have been much higher had the bomber not been intercepted at the entrance,” said Zulfikar Chaudhry, the local police chief.

Witnesses said that the blast occurred during a brief interval in the religious session when the worshipers were going in and out of the mosque.

“There was a huge blast and a lot of smoke. I rushed to the main gate and saw several bodies lying in a pool of blood and body parts scattered all around,” said Qazi Wafa, who was inside the mosque.

It was the first such incident in Chakwal district, in central Punjab province, which is the main recruiting ground for the Pakistani Army. The attack came hours after another suicide bombing killed eight paramilitary soldiers at a security post in Islamabad, the capital.

Hakimullah Mehsud, a deputy to the top Taleban commander Baitullah Mehsud, said that his group was responsible for that attack. Mehsud has claimed responsibility for a raid on a police training school in Lahore that killed 13 people last week.

Yesterday’s attack also followed a bombing late last month on a packed mosque near the Afghan border which killed at least 48 people in the worst attack in Pakistan this year.

Meanwhile, Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships and jets killed at least 18 militants in Mohmand, one of seven lawless tribal districts in northwestern Pakistan where Taleban and al-Qaeda militants are sheltering.

UN hostage John Solecki released in Pakistan as militants attack mosque

Authorities say the militant group Abu Sayyaf contacted the government late Sunday to demand a complete evacuation of government forces from Jolo, in the southern Philippines, by Monday night. The island nation’s interior secretary, Ronaldo Puno, says it is physically impossible to comply with the new demand.

The International Committee of the Red Cross is appealing for the release of its three workers – Eugenio Vani of Italy, Mary Jean Lacaba of the Philippines and Andreas Notters of Switzerland – who were kidnapped on January 15th.

Pope Benedict also added his voice to the plea for the hostages’ safety.

A Vatican communiqué Monday says the pontiff is urging that “humanitarian sense and reason prevail over violence and intimidation.”

In his message directed to the kidnappers, ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger said the hostages were only helping people in need, and that no ideology or religious law could justify killing them.

Last week, the Philippine government withdrew troops from a portion of Jolo Island, in response to a pledge that one of the hostages would be freed. The transfer never took place, however.

Abu Sayyaf is a Muslim extremist group that says it is fighting for an Islamic state in the southern Philippines. Since its inception in the 1990s, the group has been involved in numerous kidnappings, bombings and some of the bloodiest attacks in the region.

Kidnappers in Philippines Threaten to Behead Red Cross Hostage

The revelation comes after the British embassy in Baghdad received a tape of one of the hostages, the first such video in eight months. The tape was handed over to the Embassy by Iraqi security officials last week, and was purportedly filmed nine days ago. Embassy officials declined to reveal the identity of the hostage, while analysts try to determine whether the footage is indeed new.

However, the man is believed to be Peter Moore, a computer consultant, who was kidnapped along with his four security guards from an office near the finance ministry in Baghdad, where he had been working. Moore was shown in a video released in February 2008, and again in July, about 12 months after all five were taken from a small office, called the Computer Services Institute, in an area of east Baghdad known as Palestine Street.

The hostages are believed to have been taken by a Shia militia group. Several analysts familiar with the negotiations believe the kidnappers are loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand Shia leader, whose Iranian-backed militia, the Mehdi army, remains implacably opposed to the occupation.

Neither British nor Iraqi officials will comment about efforts to release the hostages, believed to centre on the kidnappers’ demands that a Sadr loyalist, Kais al-Khazili, be released from the custody of US forces in Iraq. Khazili was detained on suspicion that he organised an attack more than four years ago, which killed four US soldiers.

Sources believe the kidnappers have demanded Khazali’s release before the hostages are freed. They suggest Iraq and Britain have balked at the demand, insisting the hostages are released before any deal is done.

The US continues to hold Khazali at its desert detention centre, Camp Bucca, near the southern city of Basra. Camp Bucca is due to be scaled down by this year, with most prisoners – including those deemed to be hardcore Mehdi army or al-Qaida militants – likely to be transferred to the Iraqi prison system by the end of the year. American plans for Khazali are unknown, but are likely to feature heavily in negotiations about the hostages.

The five men were seized during the height of the insurgency in an operation described by one British official as “almost uniquely professional”. Up to 12 vehicles were involved and were seen to head in different directions from the kidnapping site. Some entered nearby Sadr City, parts of which remain a no-go zone for occupying forces.

Iraq’s national security adviser, Dr Mowaffak al-Rubaie, described the negotiations as “extremely sensitive”. The Foreign Office and the British army in Iraq have said that everything possible is being done to win their release.

British captives in Iraq alive, officials say, as video released

Mary Jean Lacaba was allowed by her captors to speak on the phone with this reporter on the afternoon of Feb. 25. Her voice was low and trembling, and she spoke in short sentences, in a mix of Filipino and English.

Lacaba relayed the same message over and over again, directed at the government or anyone else working on their release: She and her colleagues need help. They still have no idea what the Abu Sayyaf wants in exchange for their freedom.

“Please tell them, if possible, if they can, to quicken the process. It has become very hard and truly painful. Physically and emotionally, it’s really very, very hard,” she said.

With Andreas Notter of Switzerland and Eugenio Vagni of Italy, Lacaba was abducted by gunmen in Jolo, Sulu, on Jan. 15, just after they finished inspecting water facilities in the Jolo jail.

It was only much later that the Abu Sayyaf bandit group, through Albader Parad, claimed responsibility for the abduction.

No contact

In Geneva where it is based, the ICRC said it had had no direct contact with Notter, Vagni and Lacaba for a week.

Alain Aeschlimann, the head of the ICRC’s Asia-Pacific operations, said the three aid workers were being moved through the jungle and were reportedly suffering ill health.

Aeschlimann quoted a reliable source as saying that the three aid workers had received medical supplies sent to them.

He said the ICRC was appealing to the abductors’ sense of humanity and asking for the swift and unconditional release of Lacaba, Notter and Vagni.

On the phone with this reporter, Lacaba said she did not want to stay a day longer where she and her colleagues were being held.

“It’s really very difficult now. Help us so our suffering will end,” she said, adding that she and Vagni had again been afflicted with diarrhea.

Notter spoke of the same physical and emotional distress in an interview with radio station dzEC/NET-25 on the afternoon of Feb. 17.

No ransom demand

The Abu Sayyaf has yet to make an official ransom demand for the release of the three aid workers.

This was confirmed by Sulu Vice Gov. Lady Anne Sahidullah, who said she had kept her lines open with the Abu Sayyaf after she produced a proof-of-life picture of the captives late in January.

“I did not believe that they do not want ransom until I heard it myself from them. Of course, no one will believe this because we all know what happened in their previous kidnapping cases. This is the first time I heard them say there will be no ransom,” Sahidullah said.

According to the vice governor, the information that the Abu Sayyaf did not want ransom in exchange for the captives’ release came, not from Parad, but from another commander older and more experienced than he.

That commander is known as Dr. Abu, who was a combatant of the separatist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) before he joined the ranks of the Abu Sayyaf.

Military pullout first

Pader had been telling not only the three aid workers but also members of the media that there would no negotiation for the captives’ release without a military pullout.

Sahidullah told this reporter that the Sulu provincial crisis committee—which is headed by Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan—was doing its best to negotiate for the peaceful release of the three, or even just one.

She said she had tried to bargain for Lacaba’s release and had come close to convincing the Abu Sayyaf to free the captive as a sign of “goodwill,” but that certain factors intervened in her attempt.

“Even if I knew that they were amenable to releasing Mary Jean to me, it didn’t push through. There were many considerations—an ongoing military operation, the possibility that I might be sabotaged on the way…” she said.

A source from the MNLF told this reporter that a Sulu official had tried to pay P5 million for the freedom of the three captives.

But Sahidullah denied this, saying: “All I know is that [the captors] don’t want to discuss ransom.”

Former MNLF Chair Nur Misuari and his loyal faction in the group was tapped by the Sulu provincial crisis committee to help in the negotiation.

But the Abu Sayyaf through Parad maintained its position: “No negotiation with anyone or any group” without a military pullout.

Sulu captives cry for help

Different organizations and concerned individuals of Sulu manifested their commitment and support to the Province through separate statements released to the media.

In a written statement, the Busbus Peace Promoters Organization said that the recent kidnapping of ICRC personnel brought so much sadness among the inhabitants of Sulu, saying that “it is a condemnable act that must be dealt [with] seriously and be stopped from happening again in the history of the province.

The statement recognizes that the Red Cross is a humanitarian organization that has been offering humanitarian and medical services worldwide.

“Their (Red Cross) dedication to help has long been seen and felt even here in Sulu. And most are aware of the fact that it sees no angle, takes no side in extending its services. Their personnel are friends to everyone,” the statement said.

Unfortunately, the statement said, some outlaws took advantage of this “kindness and soft-heartedness [of humanitarian workers] to achieve their malice ends.”

In a separate statement, the Sabiel Al-Muhtadeen Foundation, Inc.-Sulu, an umbrella organization of the different mosques and madarios, Muslim religious leaders, professionals, women, youth and other economic sectors of Sulu, “strongly condemns all forms of un-Islamic act of violence and terror particularly the recent kidnapping of three (3) ICRC workers and a certain local resident by the name of Indiong Que.”

The foundation appealed to those “involved in carrying out such criminal activity to put an end to this heinous crime,” saying that the “political and military consequences of which are only bloodshed, destruction of properties and displacement of our very own people.”

Other groups like the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo, the Suara Mahardika, Bansag Babai, the JPIC-Jolo, including the municipal mayors of Sului and the 42nd CRU of the 4CRGAFP are signatories to another statement that expressed their “full and undivided support to Sulu Gov. Abdusakur M. Tan, the Task Force ICRC, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to resolve the issue of ICRC kidnapping in the province of Sulu.”

While all of the statements strongly condemn the actions by irresponsible and lawless elements, the groups also called for sobriety and unity among the people of Sulu and exhaust all peaceful means to resolve the crisis.

PIA Information Services – Philippine Information Agency

Omar Jalil was roused from his sleep by nine gunmen, who forcibly entered his home in Maloong village in Lamitan City at 2:25am, said Basilan police director Senior Superintendent Salik Macapantar.

Jalil is with Nonviolent Peaceforce, a nonpartisan group that has been sending observers to the four-decade-old separatist struggle in the southern Philippines.

The gunmen fired warning shots when Jalil refused to follow their orders, said Macapantar, adding that Jalil’s caretaker, identified as Gil de los Reyes, gave details of the “horrifying and violent abduction”.

“The caretaker was afraid that Jalil was shot in his arm. The caretaker fled when the suspects indiscriminately opened fire, to terrorise other people who might have been in the house. The caretaker thought he would be kidnapped, so he ran away as fast as he could,” Macapantar said.

“He is now assisting authorities in looking for Jalil,” Macapantar added.

Jalil’s abduction raised to 10 the total number of hostages kept in southern Philippines’ Basilan, Jolo, and Zamboanga, known areas of the Abu Sayyaf, a local terror group linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian conduit of the Al Qaida terror network.

Fourteen were kidnapped from December 8 to February 4, but four of them were freed or have managed to escape as of February 11.

The Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines launched operations in Basilan to “locate and save Jalil,” said Macapantar.

Marines began scouring the hinterlands and other troops started searching through coastal areas in Basilan. Civilian Volunteer Organisations joined the authorities in the search, said Macapantar.

Superintendent Danilo Bacas, operations chief of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the security forces were trying to prevent Jalil’s kidnappers from leaving Basilan.

Three Red Cross workers including two Europeans are still held by their kidnappers in Jolo.

Sri Lankan peace worker taken hostage in Basilan