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ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — Saying there will be no let up in a military operation, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday told Muslim rebels who are holding a pair of hostages to surrender or die. 

“I have said it before and I will say again, I am not a happy warrior, but if this is what the situation calls for to defend the lives of our people and to pursue peace and order, so be it,” she said. “To the Abu Sayyaf, I say to them, if you still value your life, surrender now.” 

Arroyo visited Jolo island, where government troops killed three Abu Sayyaf rebels Monday in the first clash since she declared “all-out war” on the rebels a week ago. 

During a briefing, Brig. Gen. Romeo Dominguez, commander of the assault, told the president that six rebels have been killed, 12 captured and 45 firearms seized. 

Arroyo said she is giving the military no deadline. 

“They can stay here as long as they want to neutralize the Abu Sayyaf,” she told reporters. 

Last Thursday, Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya backed off on his threat to behead 25-year-old Jeffrey Schilling, of Oakland, who has been held hostage since last August. But Sabaya warned he still might kill Schilling if the troops don’t halt their offensive. 

Military officials said the stay of execution will not halt their assault on the guerrillas on Jolo island, about 580 miles, south of Manila. 

The Abu Sayyaf, the smallest of the three major insurgency groups in the Philippines, shot to international renown last year after seizing dozens of hostages, many of them foreigners, in daring raids. It released all but two – Schilling and Filipino dive resort worker Roland Ulla – for reported multimillion-dollar ransoms. 

The Abu Sayyaf claims it is fighting for a separate Islamic state in the southern Philippines, but the government regards it as a bandit gang. 

Arroyo said her government will not hold peace talks with the group as it plans to do separately with the Muslim secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the communist National Democratic Front. 

“They are terrorists so that is the way we deal with them. There is no peace for the Abu Sayyaf,” she said. 

Schilling, a Muslim convert, was taken by the rebels after he visited their camp in Jolo on Aug. 31. Schilling was accompanied by wife Ivy Osani, Sabaya’s cousin. Osani was freed after the rebels seized Schilling.