A MORO rebel group on Thursday threatened to stop helping in the search for Fr. Michael Sinnot as it rejected the accusations that they are behind the abduction.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) military chief Sammy Al-Mansoor said they will stop helping in the rescue of the Irish priest "after the end of this week" if the damage done to them by Secretary Ronaldo Puno's statement accusing the group of direct hand in the priest's abduction on October 11, is not set right.

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Puno announced on Tuesday that MILF's 113rd Based Commander leader Alsree Alroy is involved in the kidnapping of Sinnott.

Sinnott, a member of the Mission Society of Saint Columban (MSSC), was seized by six gunmen in the evening of October 11 at the MSSC compound in Gatas district, Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur.

Al-Mansoor said Puno's statement "did not only put the MILF in a bind: 'damn if we do (the rescue) and damn if we don't' but also made the MILF as the kidnapper.'"

He described Puno's statement as a deliberate attempt "to give negative zero" values to the MILF's rescue efforts and to shame the MILF before the international community especially the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The two countries are very supportive of the peace efforts in Mindanao.

He said the MILF finds it too difficult to continue the rescue operation, unless the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) will come up with a corrective measure "to effect the inconsequential of Puno's unfortunate statement".

"We look up to the end of this week for our partner in the peace process, the Arroyo administration, to effect such a riposte or correction that placed into bad light the very unit of the MILF's Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) tasked by the MILF Central Committee for the rescue of the priest, taking into utmost consideration his safety," he said in a statement posted Thursday at the MILF website.

In the meantime, Al-Mansoor said the MILF will continue the rescue efforts and simultaneously will also inform the Irish Ambassador to the Philippines and Singapore, Dr. David O'Brien, and the MILF friends in Northern Ireland, Ministers Gerry Kelley and Martin McGuinness, who also sought for the MILF's help in the rescue, about the impending scenario.

"The decision to put on hold our role in the rescue mission is a difficult one to make, but we have to make it. There is no other way; otherwise we also destroy ourselves and the very foundation principles that the MILF stands for: Respect for fellow human beings and uncompromising stance against kidnapping in all its forms," he added.