MANILA (Xinhua) -- The Philippine military authority on Tuesday said soldiers are forming a “tightening cordon” to close in on the Abu Sayyaf militants holding three international Red Cross officers in the south Philippine island of Jolo.     

Brig. Gen. Gaudencio Pangilinan, a designated military spokesman on the hostage rescue issue, told reporters that patches of troops have encircled the abductors to pressure them into foregoing three employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross.     
Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba were snatched by Abu Sayyaf armed men on their way to Jolo airport in Jan. 15 after inspection of a prison sanitation project there.     
Pangilinan said despite moves of the military to add pressure, the hostages' safety is the “prime concern” and soldiers on the ground are acting “very carefully” not to risk the lives of those in captive.     
“The hostages are always sighted, and unhurt, as of an hour ago,” Pangilinan told reporters at a news briefing early Tuesday afternoon.     
He said certain Abu Sayyaf militants staged an attack trying to break free from the military encirclement but it was foiled. Nine soldiers were wounded while two rebels were killed.     
Pangilinan also said other factions of the 380-member Abu Sayyaf launched sympathizing attack late Monday night by firing mortar shells at a local community bordering a military base in Jolo township.     
Pangilinan said eight civilians were hurt, not critically, correcting earlier police reports saying that ten were wounded.     
The military says negotiation is going on but the authority will stick to its no-ransom policy.     
”Peaceful or non-violent resolution of the crisis is our primary goal here,” he said.     
Abu Sayyaf commander Albader Parad, who is holding the abducted ICRC staff in the hinterlands of Jolo Island, had requested key government officials and ambassadors of Switzerland and Italy to negotiate for the hostages' release.     
It is not clear whether Vice President Manuel “Noli” de Castro and Senator Richard Gordon, also the chairman of the Philippines National Red Cross, will talk to Parad's group.     
The army, however, rejected Parad's demand for a military pullout.