The Abu Sayyaf group, led by a 50-year-old man, was behind the midnight raid on Barcelo Pearl Farm resort in Samal Island, Mindanao, say two hostages who managed to escape yesterday. Twenty-three-year-old Hamid Muda, a resident of Kidalupong village, said a man named Ustadz was at the head of 23 gunmen and led the hostages along trenches, hills and creeks.

When they reached Mana Village in Davao del Sur, the gunmen rested and asked for food. Along the way, Muda stumbled on to a group of soldiers who took him in. After getting details from him, the soldiers shelled village Mana on Friday. The clash later with the gunmen resulted in the death of two soldiers and five bandits.

The bodies of the slain gunmen were taken from the scene before noon, said Davao del Sur Police Chief Superintendent Guillermo Lara. Governor Rogelio Llanos instructed some 150 families in the area to seek shelter at the Mana Elementary School. He also sought rehabilitation from the social welfare department because the military operation was expected to last six days.

Seven police maritime personnel in speedboats were posted to man a sub-station set up by the Philippine National Police in Adecor, a village near the resort. Muda said: "The armed rebels were made up of Tausugs (an ethnic group of the Abu Sayyaf) aged between 17 and 35. They were eating biscuits and would not share their food.

They were fully armed. We were very nervous but had to follow them." He added: "They wanted to go to Nuwing, a coastal village in Jose Abad Santos, about 80 kilometres away." Another hostage, Dante Alima, 19, of village Kidapalong, said he was made to carry the ammunition.

He escaped with 30 rounds of live assault rifle bullets on Friday. Describing his captors, he said: "They seemed prepared for any kind of assault." Two hotel staff were killed and three others wounded when the armed gunmen attacked the resort on Tuesday with grenades and a fusillade of bullets that destroyed the resort's wharf.

None among the 105 mostly foreign hotel guests were taken hostage. Instead, ten residents were held by the group as the attackers fled past a fishing village near Malita town, early on Wednesday.

The armed men released six hostages. Three of the remaining escaped on Thursday night. Alima was the last to escape. The hostages were used as porters and guides through the forested area of Malita, said Jesus Dureza, Presidential Assistant for Mindanao.