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Filipina nurse Ediborah Yap was hacked to death by Abu Sayyaf rebels when the Scout Rangers pulled a surprise rescue operation 20 metres away from the group's camp in the jungles of Sirawi, Zamboanga del Norte on June 7, said a report by Major General Ernesto Carolina, head of the southern Philippines military command, on the June 7 assault on Mindanao island.

The Abu Sayyaf group, led by a 50-year-old man, was behind the midnight raid on Barcelo Pearl Farm resort in Samal Island, Mindanao, say two hostages who managed to escape yesterday.

The Abu Sayyaf Group has received an estimated $200,000 (P 10m) from each of the nine freed hostages over the week-end, claimed a source, who said the payoff occurred in Manila.

Fifty masked Abu Sayyaf rebels yesterday attacked a coconut plantation in Lantawan, Basilan, abducted 15 people and escaped leaving a trail of arson.

Khadafy Janjalani, head of the Abu Sayyaf Group, was killed when his group clashed with the military in Tuburan town, Basilan, southern Philippines, last June 10. "I am going to look for his remains in Tuburan, Basilan," said Basilan Governor, Wahab Akbar.

In a major breeakthrough, a day before the 72-hour deadline of the beheading of three American hostages ends, a government negotiator has received assurances from the rebel Abu Sayyaf of their continued safety.

Two soldiers were killed and 14 were wounded as Philippine troopers chanced upon Abu Sayyaf leaders and their hostages who were washing in a river near a jungle village in Basilan, an island near Zamboanga City yesterday morning

The Abu Sayyaf group's claim it had beheaded American tourist Guillermo Sobero is "a bluff of Sabaya", said a military spokesman yesterday who added that the headless torso was that of a Muslim cleric suspected of being a fake negotiator sent to their lair by a Muslim congressman.

A joint operation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) killed one escaped prisoner and recaptured seven others on the third day of a jailbreak in the southern Philippines, reports said.