THE ABU Sayyaf threatened yesterday to kill or kidnap Americans unless the Arab mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and two other Muslim extremists held in US jails are freed in exchange for 30 hostages. 

''We are warning the United States that if they ignore our demands, we will kill every American who sets foot in this province,'' Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Ahmad Salayuddin said in a telephone interview with the INQUIRER. In a TV interview, he said: ''We will kidnap or, if not, we will kill every American we see in the Philippines.'' 

He wanted President Estrada, who has called the Abu Sayyaf ''out of their minds,'' to ask US President Bill Clinton to free the three jailed Muslims, including terrorist Ramzi Yousef, who is serving life plus 240 years for masterminding the 1993 bombing in New York. 

Salayuddin said the rebels would wait for Clinton's response, but warned in a radio interview: ''The Americans, too, have wronged us many times. This is not just a threat . . . Our demands are real. We're not joking.'' US Embassy officials in Manila declined to comment on the Abu Sayyaf demands, while foreign affairs spokesman George Reyes said that ''the threat is still being evaluated.'' 

But Basilan Gov. Wahab Akbar gave the rebels until the end of the month to free the 30 remaining hostages or face an armed assault by a 500-strong vigilante group, which the governor promised to personally lead. ''This is an ultimatum. Either the rebels free all hostages or face an all-out assault. We will not tolerate terrorism in the province,'' said Akbar's spokesman, Hader Glang. 

Salayuddin laughed off Akbar's ultimatum, saying: ''If they had wanted to (launch an assault), they should have done so before. He's just trying to scare us.'' The Abu Sayyaf spokesman said the group's five demands sent to President Estrada through actor, ex-convict and Muslim convert Robin Padilla were non-negotiable. 

''I gave Padilla 10 days starting last Sunday, to relay to President Estrada our demands. After the Holy Week or on April 26 or 27, Padilla will come back here to relay the results of our demands,'' he said. 

New demand

Salayuddin yesterday added a new demand--for the ambassador of a European country and the envoys from four Muslim nations to go to the Abu Sayyaf jungle camp to help in the negotiations. 

The Abu Sayyaf has also revived its threat to behead seven male hostages if its demands are not met. Apart from the release of Yousef, the rebels have demanded the freedom of a Muslim cleric jailed for conspiring to bomb New York City sites and a former teacher of Abu Sayyaf leader Khaddafy Janjalani. 

They have also made several other demands, including the removal of Christian crosses from Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu and the release of two Abu Sayyaf members being held in Basilan and in Zamboanga. 

According to Armed Forces spokesman Col. Rafael Romero, the Armed Forces is waiting for the Crisis Management Committee (CMC) in Basilan to complete attempts to negotiate before taking matters into its hands. ''The military is the final option,'' Romero said. 

News blackout

The rebels have said they would invite journalists to witness the beheading of the male hostages if their demands are not met. Reacting to the latest Abu Sayyaf threats, Romero suggested a news blackout on the hostage crisis. ''The more airtime you give to these crazy people, the more crazy we'll all become,'' Romero said in a radio interview. ''These pronouncements are meant to terrorize people and they're using the media to do this.'' 

Romero said a news blackout on the Abu Sayyaf would deprive it of its psychological artillery. ''Every terrorist's main weapon is to strike fear in the hearts of every person and they use the media,'' he said. ''The best thing here is to cut off the media so that they no longer have exposure. Nobody will listen to them then.'' 

So far, the Abu Sayyaf has gotten its demand for Padilla to be included in the negotiations and for a large supply of rice. ''We feel that these people should no longer be given as much mileage as they are getting now,'' Romero said. ''The whole thing has turned into a circus.'' 

Abu sneers at parents

But he also endorsed the plan by relatives of the hostages to march to Camp Abdurajak on Mt. Mahadji to offer themselves in exchange for their loved ones. ''Not only the relatives should go but the entire town should march and camp there,'' Romero said. ''The whole town should be outraged.'' ''It will change the situation. The more the better,'' he added. 

But Salayuddin warned the relatives, many of them parents of 17 children hostages, that ''they will just contribute to the problem. They will just worsen it.'' He added: ''But if they want, we'll have more hostages here, so if I were they, I would wait.'' Mr. Estrada on Saturday said the government would not compromise with the Moro separatists and promised to ''teach them a lesson.'' 

Toll on the children

The four-week crisis in the hinterlands of Basilan has taken its toll on the children, and 10 of the 17 young hostages are suffering from diarrhea and vomiting. ''If something happens to these children, it isn't our fault,'' Salayuddin said. 

The CMC, he said, was to blame for the children's condition because the government allegedly sent seven sacks of rice that were rotten. Salayuddin said the children started to fall ill after the delivery of seven sacks of rice on April 12. But Basilan Vice Gov. Bonnie Balamo, CMC chair, said the children became sick from drinking polluted water at the mountain camp. 

Cris Puno, CMC spokesman, said the Abu Sayyaf had asked for a doctor and a Red Cross volunteer to treat seven children who were sick. But the committee told the Abu Sayyaf to allow the sick children to leave so that they could be given proper medical attention. ''We have asked them to free the hostages so that they can be given treatment in the hospital because we don't have any hospital facilities in the mountains,'' Puno said on local television. 

Still keeping distance

Despite the President's statements that government would not give in the ''impossible'' demands, Malacañang yesterday reiterated that it would leave the hostage crisis in the hands of the CMC. 

Press Secretary Ricardo ''Dong'' Puno said that the President was concerned over the safety of the hostages and that the priority was to ''resolve the situation in a peaceful manner.'' 

''The position of the administration as well as the national security adviser (is to resolve the crisis) at the level of the Crisis Management Committee in Basilan,'' Puno said. 

A senator yesterday told National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre to resign in the face of the worsening security situation in Mindanao. (See related story on Page 2.) Puno said the President had instructed concerned authorities to ''exhaust all peaceful means'' in handling the nearly month-old hostage crisis. The 30 hostages have been held at Camp Abdurajak since March 20. 

Killer and more

Supt. Ahmadul Pangambayan, Basilan provincial police director, told the Inquirer that the demand to free two Abu Sayyaf members detained in the provincial jail was ''impossible'' to meet. Hadjirul Ampul, 22, younger brother of slain Abu Sayyaf member Bashirul Ampul, is charged with multiple murder, kidnapping with ransom, murder, and kidnapping with serious illegal detention. 

''He was the sixth most wanted person in the province and number 17 at the regional level,'' the officer said. Ampul was positively identified as the man who lobbed a grenade at the Isabela police station on Feb. 4, killing one and wounding eight. Ustadz Patta Saang is facing a charge of illegal possession of firearms. With reports from Donna Cueto; Donna Pazzibugan; AFP