Soldiers in the Philippines have killed an Islamic militant suspected of involvement in the 2001 kidnapping of three Americans, a military official said Saturday.

Faidar Hadjadi, a member of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, was shot dead after he was caught at a military checkpoint in the southern island of Jolo late Friday, said local marine commander Colonel Eugenio Clemen.

Another Abu Sayyaf member who was riding the same motorcycle as Hadjadi was wounded in the incident but escaped, the military said.

Hadjadi is believed to have been involved in the Abu Sayyaf abduction of American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham and Guillermo Sobero and 17 Filipinos from a resort in the western Philippines in 2001.

Martin Burnham and Sobero and several Filipinos died in captivity before Gracia Burnham was rescued in 2002.

The shooting came as a Filipina aid worker kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf in the nearby island of Basilan was released late Friday.

Millet Mendoza, who was abducted on September 15 with another aid worker, was turned over unharmed to authorities and taken to this southern port city on Saturday, said marine chief General Mohamad Dolorfino.

The other aid worker, Esperancita Hupida, was released on October 30 after a hefty ransom was paid, and sources said a ransom was also paid for Mendoza.

The Abu Sayyaf is a small group of militants who are on the US government`s list of foreign terrorist organisations.

The group was behind the 2004 firebombing of a passenger ferry in Manila Bay which killed more than 100 people, as well as a string of high-profile abductions targeting foreigners and Christians.

Intelligence agencies have linked the Abu Sayyaf to the al-Qaeda terror network and US troops are in the southern Philippines training local forces to hunt its members.