Indonesian sailor's body handed over

Indonesian authorities received from Philippine officials the body of an Indonesian sailor recovered in the south last week, four months after he was reportedly killed by the Abu Sayyaf group.

Indonesian Vice-Consul Joha-nnes Manginsella received the body of Muntu Jacobus Winowa-ton from officials of the Southern Command in Zamboanga City, said a statement from the Indonesian Embassy.

Last week, Filipino soldiers succeeded in exhuming Wino-watan's body from an unmarked grave near Patikol town, Jolo, said the southern command. Former Abu Sayyaf hostages who witnessed the killing of Winowatan in February, led the way to the recovery of his remains in the hinterlands of Jolo.

The killing occurred eight months after the bandits took him and three other Indonesian sailors hostage in Basilan last year.