The Philippine hostage crisis deepened yesterday with the Abu Sayyaf claiming to have beheaded three soldiers and taken four more hostages from Basilan even as the U.S. missionary held by the rebels was reportedly wounded in a gunbattle.

The new hostages are two teachers, a school principal and a midwife, all residents of Basilan, claimed Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya, but he did not identify the soldiers who were allegedly beheaded.

The group now has a total of 63 hostages. The group earlier abducted 20 tourists, three of them Americans from a luxury resort in Palawan, southwestern Philippines on May 27. The Armed Forces confirmed the group's new abduction, but refused to acknowledge the alleged beheading of three soldiers.

American hostage and Christian missionary Martin Burnham, 41, was wounded in the back and is being attended to by nurses and doctors who have been taken hostage, said Sabaya in a radio interview on Radio Mindanao Network.

"I am not a doctor. He was wounded in the back. He has many wounds in the back, but he is taken care of," Sabaya said, adding that several nurses who were taken hostage from the hospital in Lamitan, are now attending to Burnham and the other wounded.

Shrapnel from a rifle grenade explosion hit Martin, explained Sabaya, adding it occurred when the Abu Sayyaf and the military clashed anew in the forested areas of Tuburan town, following the group's escape with 69 more hostages from Lamitan town.

Burnham and his wife Gracia, 42, have been staying in the Philippines for the past 15 years. They are both from Kansas, U.S.

Another American hostage, California-based and Peruvian Guillermo Sobero, is reportedly married to a Filipina who was also abducted by the Abu Sayyaf in Palawan. Sabaya also explained why his group beheaded two of the hotel staffers of Dos Palmas. "They thought we are going to cut off their heads so they fought back, so we had to execute them," he said. Their decomposing bodies were discovered in Lamitan, Basilan last Sunday.

"The hostages are stressed and tired. Their lives are in danger, they are afraid of the military attack," Sabaya said through a satellite phone from an undisclosed location. "We will negotiate with the government only if President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo pulls out the military from Basilan island," said Sabaya.

Earlier, the government said it would reject Abu Sayyaf's demands for an independent Islamic state in Sulu and Basilan and other places where the majority of residents are Muslims.

Addressing the government, Sabaya said: "If you think you can wipe us out in the mountain, you are wrong. We can cause trouble in the whole country. We are not going to run out of bullets because every time the soldiers come to us, we get more bullets and more guns. The military should not demand for the group's unconditional surrender. We are prepared to die rather than surrender."