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

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.

Gulfnews: Sri Lankan peace worker taken hostage in Basilan

Abu Ali, a senior leader within the Abu Sayyaf, told The Manila Times that what they want is an independent Bangsamoro homeland.

“I would like to announce to all our Muslim brothers in the Philippines that what we are doing is not for our self-vested interest but for the interest of the Muslim ummah [community] in order to give them freedom as a Bangsamoro people as well as their right to self-determination,” Ali said.

He also clarified that the Abu Sayyaf is not demanding money for the release of the three Red Cross volunteers, as what has been published in newspapers and aired over radio and television.

“That report is not true and pure lie that we are demanding $10 million as ransom in exchange for the release of the ICRC aid workers from our custody,” Ali said.

The Red Cross confirmed that the Abu Sayyaf has not made any ransom demand for the release of Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba.

Earlier, Sen. Richard Gordon, also the chair of the Philippine National Red Cross, had talked by telephone with a senior leader of the Abu Sayyaf in order to establish a “proof of life” of the hostages a week before Sulu Vice Gov. Lady Anne Sahidullah established personal contact with the kidnappers.

Gordon, after talking to the three hostages, told the Abu Sayyaf bluntly that the Red Cross, as a non-partisan and humanitarian organization, would not in any way negotiate or pay ransom for the release of its three volunteers. He said that he would listen to the demands of the Abu Sayyaf as long their demand is not monetary.

Livelihood aid

A representative of the Red Cross who asked not to be identified and who was with Gordon in Mindanao said the organization could give millions of pesos in livelihood assistance to Sulu so that the peace would be restored in that province.

But Abu Ali said they would not sacrifice their lives if they are only after livelihood assistance.

“If we are only fighting for our livelihood, we might as well lay down our arms and turn into businessmen or farmers to earn a living. But that is not our motive but rather we are fighting for our homeland,” he pointed out.

When asked why they must kidnap Red Cross volunteers, Ali said that is the only way his group can gain attention, especially from the Philippine government.

“No matter how loud we shout and cry even everyday, still the Philippine government would not listen to us.”

No negotiations yet

Contrary to some reports, he added, there are still no formal negotiations between the Abu Sayyaf and the government. He mentioned, though, some acceptable personalities in the government who can negotiate with them: Gordon, Vice President Noli de Castro, Anak Mindanao party-list Rep. Mujiv Hataman, former Basilan Regional Assemblyman Hatimil Hassan, Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan and Vice Governor Sahidullah, government employee Hadji Mokhtar Suhaili and the country’s ambassadors to Switzerland and Italy.

Standing firm

But Malacañang said that the government should not heed the demand of the kidnappers.

“I think we should not glorify and glamorize these people by giving in to their demands,” Press Secretary Cerge Remonde recently told reporters in Manila.

De Castro said his involvement in the negotiations must be cleared first by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the National Security Council and the Sulu Crisis Management Committee.

Hataman, who is from Basilan province, declined to be part of the negotiations, claiming that he is not familiar with Sulu and not personally close to the leaders in the area.

Suhaili was fielded by the Red Cross as an emissary to the Abu Sayyaf although Gordon emphasized that the organization would not negotiate whatsoever.

Arriving last week in the capital town of Jolo, he said he already met with Tan as a matter of protocol, since the Sulu governor heads the Sulu Crisis Management Committee.

But the crisis committee was not willing to take responsibility for Suhaili’s safety if he was permitted to negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf.

“As a Tausug, my role is only to help resolve this problem so that once and for all our province would become peaceful again. Also, I am just an ordinary government employee with no hidden agenda or political motive,” he said.

Abu Ali said had Suhaili reached their lair on Monday before the fighting with government forces broke out. Negotiations with the personalities he mentioned could have already started.

The Abu Sayyaf senior leader also urged the military to loosen its cordon around them to avoid further clashes. He said they could no longer guarantee the safety of the Red Cross aid workers if fighting erupted again.

“They [Red Cross hostages] might be killed in a crossfire, since bullets will not select what to hit,” Ali warned.

Abu Sayyaf wants homeland, not ransom, for Red Cross hostages

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, the head of the Iranian parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, criticized the Pakistani government for failing to protect the kidnapped Iranian diplomat.

“Pakistan has lost its security,” he stated.

Iran’s commercial attaché, Heshmatollah Attarzadeh Niyaki, was kidnapped in an ambush attack by unidentified gunmen on Thursday, on his way to the Iranian consulate in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.

Gunmen reportedly killed Attarzadeh’s driver and took the diplomat to an undisclosed location.

Boroujerdi took the United States to task for the ongoing insecurity inside Pakistan, saying, “The massive US bombardments have targeted the country’s civilians.”

Meanwhile the governor of Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province, Owais Ahmed Ghani, said the police have found new clues about the fate of the kidnapped diplomat, although he refused to provide any details about the discovery.

Police have tightened security measures in and around the city of Peshawar as well as in the nearby tribal regions of the city, added the governor.

Pakistani police have so far arrested five suspects in connection with the abduction of Attarzadeh in the northern tribal region of Peshawar.

The Iranian foreign ministry on Thursday condemned the terrorist action, calling on the Pakistani government to spare no effort to ensure the Iranian diplomat is released.

Press TV

“According to their latest report, North-West Frontier police detained five individuals during an operation they carried out to find the hideout of the abductors,” Iran’s Consulate in Peshawar told IRIB in Islamabad on Saturday.

“Pakistani police have launched a second operation to locate the hideout this morning,” he added.

Attarzadeh Niyaki was kidnapped on his way to the Iranian consulate on Thursday in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. His Pakistani police guard, Sajjad Hussain, was killed during the attack.

After the incident on Thursday, Peshawar police chief, Muhammad Suleman Khan, told reporters that investigators had made a detailed inspection of the crime scene and found important clues that would help ensure the safe release of the Iranian attaché.

On Friday, Pakistani prime ministerial advisor, Rehman Malik, claimed that the notorious Taliban umbrella group, Tehrik-e-Taliban, was responsible for the abduction of Niyaki.

Iran’s Ambassador, Mashallah Shakeri, has backed up the Pakistani police report and said that it corresponds with information the embassy has obtained from the Peshawar consulate.

However, Shakeri has pointed out that there is no reliable information available about the fate of Attarzadeh Niyaki, as no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Press TV

The tanker was heading to Asia when it was seized Monday in the Gulf of Aden by pirates armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.

In Manila, Foreign Ministry spokesman Claro Cristobal said the Philippine Embassy in Nairobi and the ship’s operator identified the chemical tanker as the MT Stolt Strength.

All 23 seamen on board are Filipino and are “reportedly unharmed,” he said, adding that Philippine authorities are coordinating with the ship’s operator to secure the early safe release of the vessel and crew.

Choong said there was an attempted attack the same day on a refrigerated cargo ship in eastern Somalia, but the vessel managed to escape with evasive maneuvering. The ship flies a Saudi flag but is operated out of Britain.

Separately, the Indian navy said its marine commandos operating from a warship prevented pirates from hijacking an Indian merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday.

Choong said the bureau was still verifying the attack with the Indian ship owner. He said there were several other attempted attacks Tuesday, but details are still being ascertained.

The bureau has issued an urgent warning to ships to take extra measures to deter pirates even while sailing in a corridor of the gulf patrolled by a multinational naval force.

“The corridor is protected, but safe passage is not 100 percent guaranteed. The patrol boats cannot be everywhere at the same time. The ship master must maintain a strict radar watch for pirates,” he said.

Many ships have fended off pirate attacks after seeking help from the coalition forces, he added.

Russia began escorting a Danish-operated cargo ship with Russian crew members on Tuesday following pirate attacks that claimed another ship operated by the same company last week, officials from both countries said.

NATO has sent three ships to the Gulf of Aden — one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes — to help the U.S. Navy in anti-piracy patrols and to escort cargo vessels.

The European Union has said at least four warships backed by aircraft will begin policing the dangerous waters in December. The EU flotilla will eventually take over the NATO patrols.

Despite the increased security, attacks have continued unabated off Somalia, which is caught up in an Islamic insurgency and has had no functioning government since 1991.

As of Monday, there have been 83 attacks this year in Somali waters, with 33 ships hijacked. Twelve vessels remain in the hands of pirates along with more than 200 crew, Choong said, most notably a Ukrainian freighter loaded with tanks and weapons seized Sept. 25.

Yahoo! News

The attackers struck before dawn and then raced back across the border into lawless S

Somalia. Kidnapping has become a lucrative business in Somalia, and several Western aid workers are currently being held captive. But kidnappers rarely strike inside Kenya, and the Kenyan government said it was now sending more security forces to the border areas.

NYTimes.com