Yeah, you heard it right, pirates. The official line, that is, says it was pirates. However, the GAM Islamist group operates in the area. GAM advocates an Islamic state in Indonesia's Aceh province. Hostage taking is often used as a method to fund insurgent activities around the world. Earlier report here. CNN:

Pirates have released three sailors -- two Japanese and a Filipino -- who were kidnapped last week in one of the world's busiest waterways, Japan's Foreign Ministry said Monday.

The three were abducted a week ago when pirates attacked the Idaten, a Japanese-registered tugboat, in the Malacca Strait, a shipping lane between Malaysia and Indonesia.

The boat's Japanese captain, Nobuo Inoue, 56, spoke on the phone with the shipping company president Kanji Kondo, currently in Penang, Malaysia, and confirmed that he and his two abducted crew members had been safely released, according to Japanese Foreign Ministry official Masahiro Takagi.

Takagi refused to disclose details until he was able to meet with Inoue and the two others -- Japanese chief engineer Shunji Kuroda, 50, and Filipino third engineer Edgardo Sadang, 41.

The ministry official also refused to say whether any ransom money was paid.

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