American hostage Guillermo Sobero was killed by his abductors and buried in one of the towns of Basilan, southern Philippines, a top-ranking member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said. "Sobero was allowed to pray before he was killed," said MILF spokesman Sharif Julabbi, adding, "He was killed on June 12.

"His beheading was not intentional. He was beheaded, as a mercy-killing, because he was dying from a festering wound in his right foot. He was a diabetic." When asked for his source, Julabbi said he received the news from reliable sources close to the Abu Sayyaf.

Earlier, freed hostage Francis Ganzon said Sobero sustained wounds in his foot when the Abu Sayyaf and the military clashed on June 2. "He was hogtied because he couldn't walk," said Ganzon, adding it was the last time he saw Sobero, one of the three Americans who were abducted.

Ganzon also quoted Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya as saying that Sobero was killed on June 12. "I did not see it personally," Ganzon said. At the time that Sabaya announced Sobero's beheading in a radio station. He said it was done as a warning to the government because of its lack of response to his group's demand for the entry of two Malaysians as negotiators for the release of all the hostages.

The fate of Sobero remained a mystery because of reports that he and two other American hostages were brought to Jolo. Another report said he called up a radio station in the U.S. and assured his family that he was alive. Sobero, married with four children in California, was kidnapped together with his Filipina girlfriend Marife Rosadena, a resident of Palawan.

Meanwhile, the Christian missionary couple, Martin and Gracia Burnham, "remained in good condition", added Jullabi, but did not say where they were brought by their captors. "Martin sustained three gun shot wounds during the clash between the Abu Sayyaf and the military on June 2," said Julabbi, adding the American had recovered.