Philippine troops pursued the kidnappers of the six-year-old stepdaughter of a British national who fled toward a nearby mountain after troops rescued the girl after a gunbattle on the troubled southern island of Basilan.

Other captors escaped by sea in two motorised outriggers, police officials said.

The rescue was made in Kasanyangan, Tuburan town, Basilan island, Tuburan Police Chief Senior Inspector Abdurahman Hashim told Radio Mindanao Network. "The fighting lasted more than 15 minutes, and some of the rebels escaped onboard two motor boats. There were no casualties on either side," Hashim said.

April's abductors fled to various coastal areas of Tuburan village in Basilan, said Lieutenant General Gregorio Camiling, head of military forces in the southern Philippines.

"The troops are now hunting down the kidnappers," said the southern command chief, but did not specify if he was referring to the Abu Sayyaf group, the first set of April's abductors, or the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), to whom April was eventually transferred.

April was airlifted by helicopter from Tuburan to the Army base in the capital town of Isabela at about 2am. She was airlifted to nearby Zamboanga City's Southern Command Hospital at 8 yesterday morning for a medical check up, said Southern Command spokesman Col. Hilario Atendido.

"I was scared because they had guns. But I feel fine now, only a little tired. I'm happy now," she said in English after she was reunited with her mother Mina Rasul Grant.

Lieutenant General Gregorio Camiling, head of military forces in the southern Philippines, said the kidnappers had abandoned the girl and scattered in different directions when they realised troops were closing in on them.

None of the abductors were killed or captured, Camiling said, adding that no ransom had been paid for the child.

April told Camiling "I miss my sister," referring to Khadija Ian Margaret Grant, the 21-month-old daughter of Douglas and Mina Rasul Grant.

"She's fine, she's okay except for mosquito bites on her arms and legs," saidSouthern Command doctor Joselito Castro.

April, wearing shorts and a white T-shirt with her hair in a ponytail ate cereal for breakfast and asked for more food. "She was very hungry," Camiling said.

"We are happy. We are glad it's over. We thank God, We thank Allah for her safe rescue," said April's mother Mina Rasul after she was reunited with her daughter. She belongs to a political and influential clan in Basilan, the territory of two separatist Muslim rebel groups.

The girl and her mother were flown on a military transport plane later yesterday to Manila, where they met British Ambassador Allan Collins at an air force base.

Collins expressed "huge relief and huge pleasure" over the rescue of the girl. "It is very very good indeed to see her safe and well," he said.

The girl's mother said she and her daughter, who is a Filipino citizen, want to be reunited with her husband in Britain. Collins said if the Grants apply for a visa, the British Embassy "will do all it can to deal with that quickly and sympathetically."

The girl's biological father, Azzam Mohamad Hamed, is a Jordanian based in Kuwait who married Rasul eight years ago. The couple separated and the woman later married Briton Douglas Grant, who adopted the girl.