Muslim rebels backed off on a threat to behead a U.S. hostage yesterday as thousands of soldiers, bolstered by helicopters and cannons, descended on Jolo island in search of guerrilla hideouts.

The rebel group called off the beheading amid reports the government has given orders to stop military operations despite the dispatch of three Marine battalions to Jolo and Basilan, two of three strongholds of the group in Mindanao. Meanwhile, minutes before a self-imposed execution deadline, a leader of the Abu Sayyaf guerrilla group told Jeffrey Schilling's mother that he would not behead the 25-year-old man from Oakland, California.

Abu Sabaya made the announcement directly to Carol Schilling in an on-air conversation organised by Radio Mindanao Network. Carol Schilling asked Sabaya to repeat his words, straining to hear her son's captor via a crackly satellite phone from a jungle hideout.

"The execution has been suspended already," Sabaya repeated. "If you want to solve this problem just call (on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) to back off the military operations, otherwise we might be provoked to execute Jeffrey Schilling." After a brief pause, the pragmatic-sounding Carol said: "I'm helpless in the ways of government but I will do whatever I can."

She had earlier appealed to the Abu Sayyaf saying: "Harming Jeffrey will not help your objective. You may lose your credibility with the international community. Jeffrey is not your enemy, he is innocent. I want to get him alive and well." Carol, a 51-year-old YMCA accountant from Oakland, used the next few minutes of shaky phone connection to read off names and phone numbers of government officials, pleading with Sabaya to phone them in an effort to negotiate.

Abu Sabaya was on the air two minutes before a five o' clock deadline for Schilling's beheading, saying: "We have listened to the appeal of Schilling's mother. We are sparing her son's life, but we want her to call on the President to stop the military operations in Jolo." "The execution is suspended to give her a chance to appeal to President Macapagal-Arroyo to settle this problem," said Sabaya in another radio station DZXL.

But the reprieve was only temporary, "and does not mean that we are intimidated by the all-out war policy" of the government, warned Sabaya, adding: "If we get into a fight we might forget that we have suspended Jeffrey's execution." Carol who is now at Manila's U.S. Embassy called on the Philippine government to negotiate with the rebels. "I know that the Philippine government has heard the request from Abu Sabaya," she said.

Arroyo's Executive Secretary, Renato de Villa, told RMN radio he was thankful the execution wasn't carried out. He urged Abu Sayyaf to release Schilling and a Filipino dive resort worker without ransom being paid, saying government policy against paying for hostages continues. De Villa also said:"I want to tell them that while we welcome these developments, we cannot agree at the moment to any conditions because we have a stated policy, and the policy will stay."

Hinting the government would exhaust all means to save Schilling's life, De Villa said: "The government is employing all means consistent with our general policy to locate and rescue Mr. Schilling." The U.S. Embassy issued a statement welcoming the news. "We take all threats to American citizens very seriously," U.S. Embassy spokesman Thomas Skipper said. "This was the right decision. We urge (Schilling's) prompt release so he can go home with his mother and be with his family."