MANILA - Seven suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf kidnapping group have been captured on the southern Philippine island of Jolo over the weekend, the military said Sunday.

The seven were aboard a jeep when they were intercepted by an army blocking force near the town of Indanan on Jolo island on Saturday, the military said in an incident report.

They did not put up a fight and were immediately placed under tactical interrogation at a military headquarters in the area, it said.

The military has been rounding up members of the Abu Sayyaf gang, whose ranks have fallen after a six-month counter-terrorism operation.

U.S. forces ended their mission last week, but several U.S. special forces remain on nearby Basilan island to guard facilities and infrastructure work left behind by the group.

Philippine and U.S. officials say the counterterrorism operations will resume in October and would likely shift to the island of Jolo, another stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf.

Both Manila and Washington say the Abu Sayyaf, a small group of self-styled Islamic militants, to the the al-Qaeda network of Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the septeber 11 attacks in the U.S. The Abu Sayyaf last year kidnapped three Americans and 17 Filipinos from a beach resort and later moved them to Basilan's jungles. Most of the Filipinos were freed in exchange for ransom or were killed. One hostage from California, Guillermo Sobero, was beheaded.

The last U.S. hostage, Kansas Missionary Gracia Burnham was recovered in a bloody rescue last month in which her husband, Martin Burnham and Filipina nurse Ediborah Yap, were killed.