1.   Earlier this year, the group executed two Filipino hostages when one of their demands went unfulfilled.

2.   Gradually the Filipino hostages were released, apparently on payment of ransoms.

3.   The Filipino hostages were forced, through threats and persuasion, to convert to Islam.

4.   A Filipino hostage from Sipadan was taken to the camp of another rebel faction.

5.   A Filipino hostage held for three months by Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines was rescued Monday, a top military official said.

6.   A Filipino hostage also was killed in that shootout.

7.   A number of Filipino hostages were able to escape when army troops pounded the rebels with gunfire and rockets.

8.   A separate group of Abu Sayyaf rebels has been holding eight Filipino hostages -- two teachers and six children -- on nearby Basilan island.

9.   A second, smaller rebel group, the Abu Sayyaf, is holding an American and a Filipino hostage in the southern Philippines.

10.   And the bodies of two Filipino hostages taken at the resort were found outside the town, one of them beheaded.