Abu Sayyaf Muslim guerrillas who seized more than a dozen hostages in this southern town have beheaded nine of their captives, local officials said Saturday.
Inocente Ramos, mayor of Lamitan town in the island of Basilan, said another four headless bodies were found on Saturday in addition to five found on Friday.
Police and civilian volunteers took the bodies, all belonging to Filipino Christian males to the Lamitan funeral parlor where hundreds of people showed up to try to identify the deceased.
Even as the bodies were being placed in the funeral parlor, Abu Sayyaf gunmen began firing on houses on the outskirts of Lamitan until they were driven off by soldiers, military officers said.
Efren Natalaray, 49, whose 24-year-old son Elmer was among those beheaded, said they were both seized late Thursday when about seven Abu Sayyaf gunmen surrounded a neighbor's house they were visiting.
He said the Abu Sayyaf forced them out, tied their hands behind their backs and made them to walk into the forests. In the darkness, he managed to escape to a coconut plantation but his eldest son remained in Abu Sayyaf hands -- LAMITAN, Philippines (AFP)
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