Woman hostage released by Abu Sayyaf in southern Philippines

The Abu Sayyaf on Friday released Marites Flor, a Philippine woman who was abducted by the group from a posh resort in southern Philippines along with other three men in September last year.

Maj. Filemon Tan, spokesman of the military's Western Mindanao Command, confirmed the release of Flor in Jolo town in Sulu, a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf.

"She is physically okay," Tan said, adding that Flor was freed in front of the residence of Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan in community Asturias at around 4:30 a.m.

He said Flor was turned over to the custody of the Joint Task Force Sulu of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Jolo at around 11 a.m. for medical check-up.

Of the four people abducted by the Abu Sayyaf on the Samal Island in Davao del Norte, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad is the only one still being kept in captivity.

The two other victims, Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, were beheaded on April 25 and June 13, respectively for failure to meet ransom deadline.

Formed in the early 1990s, the Abu Sayyaf is a radical offshoot of a Muslim separatist insurgency in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines.

The United States and the Philippines have both listed the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organization for carrying out kidnappings, beheadings and bombings. Endit