By Teresa Cerojano
The Associated Press

THREE kidnapped Red Cross workers made a fourth call to their colleagues Monday, saying they were together and in good health but their abductors want Filipino troops to stop pursuing them, officials said.

Some 1,000 Marines and police have been searching the jungles of Jolo for the three hostages from the International Committee of the Red Cross, who were snatched from their car on Thursday: Swiss Andreas Notter, 38; Italian Eugenio Vagni, 62; and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba, 37.

Police say they have identified at least three people believed to have turned them over to Al Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf gunmen, notorious for demanding ransom.

Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross, said the hostages telephoned the ICRC delegation head in Manila on Monday morning and relayed a request from their abductors to stop the military pursuit.

?There is still no demand from the kidnappers,? he added.

ICRC spokesman Anna Nelson confirmed the phone call, saying to the best of their knowledge ?they are still together and they tell us they are in good health.?

Nelson told The Associated Press the ICRC was aware of rumors about a ransom demand, but has not had any direct contact with the abductors.

She said the latest call was the fourth from the aid workers, who have telephoned daily since Friday to say they were in good health and not harmed.

Nelson also said that the hostages had not been able to speak with their families, but that the ICRC was in close contact with their kin.

?For us the priority really is that they say they are in good health and that?s extremely important,? Nelson added.

Jolo provincial police chief Julasirim Kasim identified three of five suspects being sought by authorities, adding that one of them was a former prison guard disgruntled after losing his job.

The kidnappers handed the three captives to Abu Sayyaf gunmen hiding in the dense jungles near Jolo?s Indanan town, Kasim said.

Notter, Vagni and Lacaba traveled to Jolo to inspect a water sanitation project in the provincial jail. They were offered security escorts but they declined, citing their agency?s neutrality, Jolo Governor Sakur Tan said.

Thursday?s abduction was the most high-profile kidnapping of foreigners since 2000, when Abu Sayyaf gunmen snatched 21 people, mostly European tourists, from a Malaysian resort then brought them to Jolo. All were freed in exchange for millions of dollars in ransom reportedly financed by Libya.

Abu Sayyaf, which is notorious for kidnappings for ransom, bombings and beheadings, is on a US list of terrorist organizations because of its links to Al Qaida.