Manila  - A Philippine Red Cross official on Wednesday asked Muslim militants to prove that they did not behead one of three abducted Red Cross workers after the government ignored their demand for a troop pullout on a southern island.

Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross, asked the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf rebels to allow him to talk to the three Red Cross captives on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila.

"I want to talk to the three hostages," he said. "It is a measure to rebuild confidence."

Gordon made the request one day after a deadline set by the Abu Sayyaf rebels for the government to meet their demand.

The guerrillas had threatened to behead one of the hostages if soldiers, policemen and militiamen did not pull out from practically the entire island.

But Governor Abdusakur Tan said his informants have told him that the Abu Sayyaf rebels did not make good their threat despite the government's refusal to withdraw all security forces from a large portion of Jolo.

Soldiers and policemen who earlier pulled out from Indanan town, where the kidnappers were holding the captives, in a bid to save the hostages began to return to their positions on Tuesday after Tan placed Jolo under emergency rule.

A curfew was also enforced while checkpoints were set up around the island.

Tan also directed the military and police to conduct "general search and seizures, including arrests in the pursuit of the kidnappers and their supporters" and launch other operations "as may be necessary to ensure public safety."

The hostages - Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba - were abducted January 15 after visiting the provincial jail on Jolo to oversee a water and sanitation project.

Abu Sayyaf rebels have been blamed for some of the worst terrorist attacks and high-profile kidnappings in the Philippines. They also have beheaded hostages, including an American tourist abducted in 2001, when authorities failed to meet their demands. (dpa)