Abu Sayyaf bandits in Lamitan, Basilan beheaded one of two hostages they took during a raid

Abu Sayyaf bandits in Lamitan, Basilan beheaded one of two hostages they took during a raid in a Christian village in Basilan last Friday and killed another civilian they met along the way after raiding the community, the military said Monday.

Capt. Neil Estrella, Marines spokesman, said armed men possibly from lawless Moro Islamic Liberation Front groups and the Abu Sayyaf seized Cosme Aballes and Ernan Chavez after terrorizing villagers in Sitio Arco on April 10.

Citing military reports, he said security forces from civilian volunteer organizations (CVOs) on Sunday recovered the body of Aballes, whose head was almost severed.
“He was beheaded but troops in the area described that only the skin was connecting head from the body. The term they used was ‘hack’ and its intention is to behead but they probably did not use a sharp tool,” the official said.“We did not have an autopsy on Aballes but we think that he was killed while the rebels were on the run that’s why we just recovered the body because the troops are still pursuing them,” he added.Estrella said the armed men also shot civilian Jacinto Clemente whom they encountered after the raid.
“They are really criminals. They will kill anybody they encounter and the intention they had was to disrupt the Christian activities during the Lenten season when they went to Sitio Arco,” he said.
“Their second motive was to extort from local leaders in the area,” he added, saying that Chavez is still being held by the suspects.
Chavez is the seventh victim being held in Basilan province by the bandits together with Sri Lankan peacekeeper Umar Jaleel and teachers Jocelyn Enriquez, Jocelyn Inion, and Noemi Maudi, who were abducted in Zamboanga Sibugay last month.Estrella said that Marine troops have been conducting pursuit operations to locate the whereabouts of the kidnappers, who are believed be in the vicinity of Sitio Arco in Lamitan, to safely recover Chavez.Meanwhile, Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno said Monday the government remains firm in its stand not to give in to demands of another Abu Sayyaf Group who are holding hostage two foreign volunteers of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Sulu province.However, Puno said that if the bandits would demand for a troop pullback to give way to the release of another hostage, “then we are willing to bend over backwards to do that.”
Swiss national Andreas Notter and Italian Eugenio Vagni remain in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf since their captivity on January 15. A third hostage, Filipina Red Cross worker Jean Lacaba, was released last April 2.Puno said he believes the bandits are after the money which they think they could get from the families of the two Red Cross workers.He said the abductors have allowed their hostages to talk to their families over the phone.