More headless bodies found in hostage hunt

Troops are now thought to outnumber the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers two to one

By staff and wire reports

MANILA, Philippines -- Two headless bodies found Saturday in the southern Philippines have been identified as belonging to Filipino plantation workers kidnapped by Muslim extremists earlier this month, officials said.

The mayor of Lantawan on Basilan island, Tehira Ismail, said the bodies were found about three miles from the city and the families had identified the remains.

A handwritten note was found near the bodies and authorities suspect they were killed early Saturday morning. Their heads were not found.

The two men were kidnapped from a plantation near Lantawan on June 11.

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They were part of a group of hostages seized in addition to the three Americans and 17 Filipinos taken from a diving resort on Palawan island last month.

Death claim still unconfirmed

Since then, 11 hostages have either escaped or have been freed, four have been killed, and another 19 have been taken captive.

After the release of three captives earlier this month, the Abu Sayyaf is still believed to be holding 21 hostages.

The group claims to have beheaded 40-year-old Californian tourist Guillermo Sobero on June 12, as an Independence Day "gift" to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Although the military has said this claim is probably true, police and soldiers have yet to locate Sobero's body almost two weeks after the kidnappers' original claim.

In another part of the island, reports from the Associated Press quote police sources as saying they had found two other headless Filipino bodies on Friday night in Tuburan town, an eastern area of Basilan frequented by the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas.

But the police were unable to identify the bodies or say whether they were those of hostages taken by the Abu Sayyaf.

Decapitated

Earlier officials said that another three severed heads found Thursday do not belong to soldiers reported missing after clashes with the group last week.

The latest discoveries bring to at least eight the number of decapitated bodies that have been found on Basilan since some 5,000 troops began an offensive against the Abu Sayyaf.

The gunmen say they are fighting for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines -- but the government says the group is nothing more than bandits engaged in kidnap for ransom.

Officials quoted by the Associated Press say they fear the gang may have fled the region in a motorboat convoy that managed to evade a navy blockade earlier in the week.

Military helicopters spotted the single-file column of boats leaving Basilan at sunrise Wednesday and dispatched a navy patrol to catch them, but the motorboats were gone by the time the navy ships arrived, according to a military spokesman.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.