Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebels beheaded two of six Filipino Christians they kidnapped this week and dumped their heads outside an army camp and a market in the southern Philippines, the military said this morning.
The killings occurred on Jolo island three weeks after US troops ended a six-month joint operation in the southern Philippines, with both governments declaring the Abu Sayyaf threat had substantially decreased.
Four army battalions, or about 2,000 soldiers are chasing after the kidnappers to try and rescue four remaining captives, all of them women, a military statement in Manila said.
President Ms Gloria Arroyo's government "hopes the (remaining) hostages would escape harm," her spokesman said.
The first head was dumped near the army headquarters while the second was found near the public market, said the island's military chief. Their bodies have not been found.
"The kidnappers are terrorists, animals and barbarians," he added.
AFP
