The police rescued an ethnic Chinese woman from the Abu Sayyaf group in Jolo, southern Philippines, last Thursday, a belated report said.

Marilyn Tiu, wife of a businessman whose family owns a fleet of fishing vessels, was rescued from the Abu Sayyaf group led by Raddulan Sahiron in Jolo, said Senior Police Superintendent Edwin Soledad.

Government forces spotted her and her kidnappers on Thursday.

Her abductors were forced to abandon her after seeing the pursuing security forces, said regional police commander, Simeon Dizon, in a radio interview.

There was no Abu Sayyaf member who was arrested during the rescue operation, the details of which were not given to the press. "Formal reports will soon follow," Soledad explained.

Tiu was abducted by renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) from her coastal hometown in Zamboanga del Sur on November 27 last year.

Her abductors brought her to Sahirun's camp in Jolo, further south. The kidnappers demanded a $100,000 (P5 million) ransom, but her family, with the help of local government officials, negotiated for a lower amount.

Meanwhile, government forces killed at least four gunmen and one paramilitary informer in a raid at the jungle hide-out of the Abu Sayyaf group in Ipil village, Maimbung town, in Sulu, last Thursday, Sulu province provincial police chief, Candido Casimiro, said in a late report.

Those killed were brothers Abduhasad and Alimbun Sahali, and Abdurasad Sabu and Ahmad Alih. Also killed was government informer Manahan Jumadil.