Guillermo Sobero was confirmed dead, said the CNN in a report that reached Manila. The news agency quoted the spokesman of the Federal Bureau of Investigation as saying they based their statement on Sobero's central record in the United States.

The CNN also showed film clips of Sobero's brother talking about the confirmation made by the FBI.

The U.S. Embassy in Manila recently brought to the U.S. the bones that were recovered by the military in Basilan, based on the reports of Sobero's executioners who had defected to the fold of the law last July.

Many of the hostages who recently escaped from the Abu Sayyaf leaders claimed they never saw Sobero as one of the hostages.

Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya earlier claimed his group had beheaded Sobero on June 12, as a gift to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on the country's independence day.