LONDON. Aug 7: Sierra Leone rebels holding as many as 30 people hostage, in a bid to secure freedom for their leader, have agreed to release them, the west African country's Information Minister Julius Spencer told BBC radio on Saturday, reports AFP.

"They have agreed to release them. My guess is that it is the modalities which are being worked out now." he said.

Five British Army officers and a number of Nigerian soldiers in the West African peacekeeping force ECOMOG as well as United Nations humanitarian workers and journalists are among the hostages who were snatched on Wednesday by rebels from the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council.

They are being held at Occra Hills, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Freetown.

Spencer did not specify the

total number of hostages but indicated that the rebels were ready to let them all go. He also Said that as far as he knew, none of them had been Injured.

He acknowledged that the crisis was taking longer to resolve than he first predicted.

A spokeswoman for Britain's Foreign Office, however. said no progress had been made in negotiations to release the hostages.

"The situation has not changed. Our understanding is that the rebels have said for a while they would be prepared to release those they detained but that talks continue on how to achieve that."

Thirty seven people were seized after they went to witness the hand-over by the AFRC of children abducted during the Sierra Leonean conflict. Several of the hostages have since been released.