Reports said backdoor talks are being conducted by unnamed emissaries for the release of German magazine Der Spiegel's Andreas Lorenz and the eight Malaysians.

The Malaysians are part of the 21 original captives, along with three Germans, two South Africans, two Finns, two French, two Filipinos, and a Lebanese, snatched on April 23 from Malaysia's Sipadan Island resort by Jolo's Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).

A Malaysian hostage was released last week. Lorenz was kidnaped a few days ago by another set of gun men who are reportedly not members of the Sipadan hostage takers but lured by the prospect of getting ransom money.

The reports said backdoor negotiations were "gaining ground on Saturday" even as some Malaysian authorities are now awaiting in Zamboanga City for the release of their compatriots.

Their freedom could come before President Joseph Estrada's visit to the United States on July 24, the President's spokesman, Secretary Ricardo Puno, said on Friday, voicing optimism on the long-drawn hostage crisis.

However, diplomat Rajab Azzarouq, former Libyan envoy to Manila and one of the negotiators in Secretary Robert Aventajado's team of negotiators, told the Manila Bulletin that he has no knowledge of the supposed release of Lorenz and the eight Malaysians.

Azzarouq said he knows, though, that other Malaysians are working for their countrymen's freedom, but that's all. "I am not aware of any impending release," he said.

He said he does not believe in giving a timetable for the hostage crisis' end, adding "if you give yourself a timetable here and there, you might end up not meeting your time limit."

The Jolo bandits' captives have increased to 37 with the arrival in the ASG's camp of television evangelist Wilde Almeda and 12 of his people. They brought "gifts" of $3,000 and sacks of rice to the gunmen but they have now been added to the hostages.

Azzarouq said the negotiating team is waiting for the arrival in Manila of another negotiator, Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan, who was to leave Jolo yesterday afternoon.