Philippine troops have captured the "spiritual adviser" of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group along with two other members in the southern Philippine island of Jolo, a military spokesman said Tuesday.

Abraham Jumdaini, arrested on Sept. 21 and identified by former Abu Sayyaf members, was allegedly recruited by Abu Sayyaf founder Abdurajak Janjalani, Colonel Gominto Tirino told reporters.

Jumdaini, a former imam in a Jolo town mosque, had been tasked to use religion to indoctrinate Abu Sayyaf recruits to carry out kidnappings and raids, the military said.

He was also involved in various kidnappings for ransom of Filipino Christians as well as in the abduction of 21 Western tourists and Asian hotel workers from the Sipadan resort in Malaysia in 2000, the military said.

Most of the hostages in the incident were later freed after ransom was paid.

Two more Abu Sayyaf members were arrested by an anti-terror task force a day later and they are still being questioned, Tirino said, without revealing their identities.

The Abu Sayyaf, infamous for kidnap-for-ransom and bombing activities, has been labeled by the Philippine and US governments as a terrorist group with links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network.

The Philippine military and defense officials said years of continuous government operations had reduced the number of active Abu Sayyaf rebels from around 1,200 to only 300. However, the group's leader, Khadaffy Janjalani, is still the subject of intense manhunt operations in Basilan, also in the south.

Source: Xinhua