Abu Sayyaf beheads 2 loggers in Basilan

Islamist militants in the island province of Basilan in Mindanao beheaded two loggers they abducted just hours earlier, police yesterday said.

Police retrieved the headless corpses of the two victims identified as seized Daduh Lumatang and Manuel Lumasag early Saturday after they were abducted by Abu Sayyaf gunmen while at work, Basilan police director Senior Supt. Antonio Mendoza said.

It was the second report of killings of civilians by the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan this month.

Abu Sayyaf was set up with seed money from al-Qaeda in the early 1990s and is suspected by the military of tactical ties with Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian Islamist group blamed for several attacks in Indonesia.

Brig. Gen. Eugene Clemen, commander of the Philippine Marine forces on Basilan, said the latest victims were murdered late Friday, hours after they were taken.

“They had been warned not to venture in that area because it was dangerous,” Clemen said of the loggers, adding they had no official permit to cut trees in the area.

Most of the Abu Sayyaf’s top leaders have been killed or arrested in military operations backed by US Special Forces troops providing training and intelligence, but the rebels continue to pose a security threat. AFP