Philippine Military Says Heads Discovered

Three severed heads were found Thursday in an area where Muslim extremists claimed to have killed an American hostage last week. The victims were believed to be Filipinos.

Lt. Col. Jose Mabanta said the heads were so badly decomposed that they would be hard to identify. But he added that none was that of Guillermo Sobero, 40, of Corona, who was among 20 people--including two other Americans--seized from a resort May 27.

The Abu Sayyaf rebels, who say they are fighting for an Islamic homeland in this mostly Roman Catholic country, earlier killed two Philippine captives and June 12 claimed to have decapitated Sobero. The military says Sobero probably is dead, but his body has not been found.

An intermediary said Thursday that the rebels plan to release three Philippine hostages today.

The intermediary, who asked not to be identified, said he talked to rebel leader Abu Sabaya, who told him of the planned release.

The intermediary did not identify the three Filipinos but said one was among those kidnapped from the resort on Palawan island and two were part of a group abducted later.

On June 6, Sabaya said he had decapitated three soldiers he captured during a clash that also reportedly injured American hostage Martin Burnham, whose wife, Gracia, also is being held. But the military has said it has accounted for all its soldiers, so it was unclear who the victims found Thursday might be.

Sobero’s sister Ana made a radio appeal Thursday, urging the captors to have mercy. “He has four children who are crying for his return,” she told the Radio Mindanao Network.

In Manila, the military admitted that its offensive on Basilan island had failed to find the rebels or their hostages for the last five days. It said naval forces were surrounding the island to prevent the guerrillas from fleeing or receiving reinforcements from nearby islands.