MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the Philippines have refused to free foreign hostages after two weeks of negotiations with a Muslim rebel group, which said Monday it would continue talking to the extremists.

Hundreds of rebels of the Moro National Liberation Front, which signed an autonomy deal with the government in 1996, have encamped in the foothills of mountainous Patikul town on southern Jolo island for two weeks to negotiate the release of foreign and Filipino hostages long held by the Abu Sayyaf in its jungle lairs.