The Abu Sayyaf Group has beheaded two hostages who were taken from a 250-hectare plantation in Lantawan town, Basilan, southern Philippines, the police said.

The police recovered the mutilated bodies of the hostages who were identified as Primitivo Falcasantos, chief security officer of the Golden Harvest Plantation owned by the Alano family; and Crisanto Suelo, a farm worker, said Police Senior Inspector Gerry Bayabos, Lantwan's police chief.

"We have recovered the bodies of Primitivo Falcasantos and Crisanto Suela this morning in Isabela City," he said in a telephone interview. Mayor Tahira Ismael of Lantawan town also confirmed the bodies were that of the two hostages who were poor residents of Lantawan. They were among the 15 who were seized by the Abu Sayyaf rebels in a raid of Lantawan town.

The recovery of the two bodies brought to eight the number of corpses found since last week in the predominantly Muslim province, several miles south of Zamboanga City.

Policemen and soldiers recovered separately two headless bodies and a pair of mutilated heads in Tuburan town last Friday. The corpses and the heads remain unidentified. Four other bodies were recovered near Tuburan town last week.

Up to now, the government has failed to recover the body or head of American tourist Guillermo Sobero.

Abu Sayyaf leader, Abu Sabaya, said the tourist was beheaded on June 12. Later, other sources said the diabetic foreign tourist was executed because he was dying from his festering wounds, which he sustained during a government-Abu Sayyaf clash in Lamitan on June 2.

"Government operation is ongoing in the province to rescue the remaining hostages," said Bayabos. However, up to now, the military and the police have failed to arrest the Abu Sayyaf leaders and rescue the hostages, including two other American missionaries.

Many say that the Abu Sayyaf Group which attacked Lantawan was a reinforcement from nearby Jolo, to assist the Abu Sayyaf Group led by Khadaffy Janjalani which swooped down on Lamitan, Basilan, on June 2, following the abduction of 20 tourists from Palawan, south-western Philippines, on May 27.

At least 11 hostages who were taken from Palawan have been freed after their families reportedly paid huge ransom money ranging from $60,000 to $500,000 to the self-styled separatist Abu Sayyaf leaders.

The Abu Sayyaf Group, meanwhile divided their hostages into three groups, to confuse security forces sent to rescue the victims, said a man who claimed to have continuous contact with a Malaysian national who has been negotiating with Abu Sayyaf leader, Abu Sabaya.