Guerrillas rescue kidnapped German, Filipinos

COTABATO (AFP) - Unidentified gunmen who seized a German national, his wife and two Filipinos in the troubled southern Philippines on Thursday have released them following pressure from local Muslim guerrillas, officials said.

Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) surrounded the hostages and their captors not far from where the abduction took place, MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said.

He said they were travelling to the town of Pikit to hand the four over to government authorities.

Local military commander Colonel Pedro Soria identified the hostages as Thomas Wallraf, a German businessman, his Filipina wife, Sharon Jackson, and two Filipino companions Diego Daniel and Consuelo San Juna.