Manila - A Filipino Muslim militant was extradited to the United States to face trial for the alleged kidnapping of four Americans in a southern Philippine province almost 15 years ago, a US embassy statement said Saturday.

Madhatta Haipe was extradited to the US on August 27 to face trial in a federal court in the District of Columbia for the hostage-taking of US and Philippine citizens in 1995.

Haipe, a former professor of Islamic Studies at the Mindanao State University, allegedly led a group of Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels in the abduction of 16 people - including four US citizens - in Trankini Falls in strife-torn southern Mindanao Island on December 27, 1995.

The victims were released a few days later after the kidnappers allegedly collected ransom money amounting to 1 million pesos (19,000 dollars in 1995), the statement said.

Haipe, along with four other suspected militants, was deported from Malaysia in May. He was immediately taken into custody by the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation.(dpa)