Severed heads were found near market

Abu Sayyaf rebels have beheaded two of the six hostages they kidnapped in Jolo, southern Philippines, the military said yesterday.

The military found a severed head near a fruit market at 10.00pm on Wednesday. It was later identified as that of Lionel Mantic, a resident of Jolo.

Government soldiers found another, 100 metres away at 6.00 yesterday morning. It turned out to be the head of Lemuel Mantolo from Zamboanga City, reports said.

One head was wrapped in cellophane, said army commander Brig. Gen. Romeo Tolentino. "There was a letter found which said those who do not believe in Allah will suffer the same fate."

"They (kidnappers) said what they did was jihad (holy war)," Brig. Gen. Tolentino noted. He did not give details.

The latest kidnapping "has something to do with their (victims) religion," explained a military source.

Colleagues from Jehovah's Witness, a non-Catholic religious group in Zamboanga City, identified the severed heads.

Members of the 104th Brigade in Jolo were ordered to look for the bodies of the slain victims.

Mantolo and Mantic were two of six Jehovah's Witness preachers who were kidnapped in Jolo on Tuesday.

The four women hostages who are still with the Abu Sayyaf were identified as Nory Mantolo, Cleofe Mantolo, Flor Mantolo, Emely Monti.

Earlier, reports said the Abu Sayyaf kidnapped eight people in Patikul, Sulu, on Tuesday, but two others, identified only as Mr and Mrs Suliman were freed the same day.

They were the guides of the preachers in village Kaunayan where they sold cosmetic products from the U.S.

However, when the couple showed up at their home in Zamboanga City, they said they had spent the night with relatives, updated military reports said.

The kidnappers left behind the group's driver during the abduction on Tuesday. When found by the military, he said the leader of the abductors was Muid Maulod Sahiron, nephew of the one-armed Abu Sayyaf leader, Radullan Sahiron, who operates in Jolo.

The incident was "not a slap but a challenge to the government", said Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye.

"President Gloria Arroyo is confident of the success of the military operations against the bandits and hopes the (remaining) hostages will escape harm," Bunye added.

The kidnapping was the first since the Philippine and U.S. officials claimed the group had become a spent force after the reported death of Abu Sayyaf spokesman, Abu Sabaya, in a clash in the Sulu Sea on June 21.

It was the first incident after the six-month-long U.S.-Philippine war games which ended on July 31.

Early this month, Arroyo ordered the redeployment of more than 6,000 soldiers from the south to central, northern, and southern Luzon to quell the communist New People's Army.

Philippine military chief, Gen. Roy Cimatu, flew to Zamboanga City and met security officials to assess the situation in Jolo. He scheduled a trip to Jolo to supervise the rescue efforts.

Armed Forces Southern Command chief, Lieutenant General Ernesto Carolina, had ordered the deployment of two battalions for a rescue operation.

The Abu Sayyaf Group has used their victims as human shields amid ongoing shelling of identified Abu Sayyaf lairs in Jolo, Lt. Gen. Carolina said.

He added that they also need shields in case they are seen by the military men engaged in a rescue operation of three Indonesian sailors being held by another kidnap group in Sulu since June 17.

The military has pinpointed the hide-out of the abductors, Armed Forces spokesman, Brigadier General Eduardo Purificacion, said. He refused to give details so as not to jeopardise military operations.

The Armed Forces are still investigating the identity of the kidnappers, he said, and there are several groups of the "outlaw variety" operating in Jolo.