Extremists behead four in Philippines

Muslim extremists raided a southern Philippines village, seizing 36 Filipino hostages then beheading at least four, the military and police said yesterday. It is their biggest attack since taking a group of captives, including three Americans, from a beach resort in May.

Military leaders said the Abu Sayyaf militants struck a village outside Lamitan town on Basilan island on Thursday night. Soldiers and police found four bodies early yesterday.

"All were dead – beheaded," said the military's deputy chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Jose Calimlim. The Basilan police chief, Senior Superintendent Akmadul Pangambayan, had said earlier that five bodies had been discovered.

There is also confusion about how many hostages were taken. The Lamitan police chief, Inspector Omar Adjid Dalawis, said it was 36; other sources put the number at 24, with at least 16 still in the hands of the militants yesterday afternoon.

The Abu Sayyaf militants, thought to number 1,100, are fighting for an independent Muslim state in the southern Philippines. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has vowed to crush Abu Sayyaf and the latest attack came after a man told Radio Mindanao Network that the group would kill Christians in retaliation for the military's attempts to wipe it out.

Abu Sayyaf is still holding a missionary couple, Martin and Gracia Burnham, captured during an attack on a southwestern beach resort in May. The militants claims to have beheaded a third American, Guillermo Sobero, but his body has not been found. (AP)