Manila - The Philippine armed forces suspended on Tuesday military operations against Muslim militants to pave the way for negotiations for the release of three Red Cross hostages on a southern island, a navy spokesman said.

Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo said the military was holding off its offensives against Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, to allow negotiations for the release of three captive personnel of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"There will be no military operations for the moment, we are holding our present and current locations," he said. "We would like to give way to the negotiations process that is now being undertaken by the crisis committee."

Arevalo said that despite the suspension of offensives against the Abu Sayyaf rebels, government troops will continue to exert pressure to contain them in one location.

Troops will also continue blocking food and ammunition supplies to the Abu Sayyaf rebels, he said.

The three captives - Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean lacaba - were seized on January 15 shortly after visiting the Sulu province provincial jail on Jolo.

The military came under public criticism last week after it launched an offensive against the Abu Sayyaf rebels in an apparent bid to rescue the hostages, triggering two days of clashes that left three Marines and six Abu Sayyaf dead.

Due to the fighting, the rebels threatened to behead one of the hostages if government troops did not stop the offensive and pull out of Indanan town, where the captives were being held.

The military agreed to re-position troops after Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross, reached a deal with Abu Sayyaf leader Albader Parad to free one of the hostages if government forces withdrew.

But the deal collapsed when Marine Major General Juancho Sabban, commander of Philippine troops on Jolo, withdrew the troops prematurely before the Abu Sayyaf rebels were able to release one of the hostages.

Sabban went on a two-week leave starting on Monday amid the controversy.

The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for some of the worst terrorist attacks and high-profile kidnappings in the Philippines. In the past, the rebels beheaded hostages, including an American tourist in 2001, when the government refused to give in to their demands. (dpa)