An Islamic militant group on Thursday freed a Filipina Red Cross worker held captive for two-and-a-half months in the southern Philippines, but continued to hold her two European colleagues, officials said.

The Abu Sayyaf rebel group had threatened to behead one of the hostages on Tuesday unless government troops withdrew from much of Jolo island, but the ultimatum was ignored.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said the release of the Filipina engineer, Mary Jean Lacaba, was “confirmation that we should always stand behind our policy of dealing firmly with any form of lawless behaviour”.

The Abu Sayyaf, a small but violent militant group based on Jolo and the nearby island of Basilan, had earlier demanded that troops relax the tight cordon they were keeping around the rebel hideout before talks for the hostages’ release could start — which the government agreed to.

Nur-Ana Sahidulla, vice-governor of the southern Sulu province, said she gone up to the rebels’ mountain lair expecting talks, but not a release.

“When I arrived, at least the talks were good. It’s a long story and I finally convinced them,” she said, adding that she had also seen and talked to the two other hostages — Swiss national Andreas Notter and Italian Eugenio Vagni.

Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told reporters that Lacaba, dazed and wearing a Muslim head scarf, a blue jacket and muddied rubber shoes, had been left by her captors in a remote village on Jolo, where officials fetched her.

“We are extremely happy. She appears to be in good health, albeit tired,” International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) spokesman Florian Westphal said in Geneva, where the neutral humanitarian organisation is headquartered.

LINKS TO AL QAEDA

Sahidulla said Lacaba had been the hostage targeted for beheading.

Abu Sayyaf, with links to the Southeast Asian regional militant network Jemaah Islamiah and to al Qaeda, has been blamed for the worst terrorist attack in the Philippines, the bombing of a ferry in Manila Bay in 2004 that killed 100 people.

It is also notorious for high-profile kidnappings and large ransoms, and has a history of beheading captives.

Senator Richard Gordon, the Philippine National Red Cross chief, said in a television interview that no ransom had been paid, and expressed hope for more releases.

“After we got one, it’s now easier to get the two,” he said.

Gordon said he had broken the news of Lacaba’s release to her husband Manny.

“His scream was one that I will never forget, it’s etched in my mind and heart, Manny was so happy,” he said.

The hostages were abducted on Jan. 15 after a visit to a local prison where the Red Cross was funding a water project.

Lacaba was taken to a military hospital for checks. There she was given soup and water and called her husband and colleagues.

Alain Aeschlimann, ICRC’s operations chief for east Asia, southeast Asia and the Pacific, issued another appeal for the unconditional release of the remaining hostages.

“Once again, we ask that they remain unharmed. While we welcome this first positive move, especially after a very tense and difficult week, we reiterate our appeal to the kidnappers to let Eugenio Vagni and Andreas Notter go without delay,” he said.