Body May Be That of U.S. Tourist

The FBI will conduct DNA tests to identify a decapitated body and skull that Philippine rebels say are the remains of American tourist Guillermo Sobero of Corona, an agency spokesman said Tuesday.

The victim’s brother said FBI investigators told him they “strongly believe” the remains found in a grave on Basilan Island are those of Sobero, whom the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf kidnapped and claimed to have beheaded last spring.

“They’re pretty sure it’s him,” said his brother, Alberto Sobero of Cathedral City. “This about extinguishes the very little hope we had left that he might be alive.”

The remains will be sent to the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Va., for testing, said Matt McLaughlin of the agency’s Los Angeles office.

Three rebels recently led Philippine military officials to the grave. Abu Sayyaf guerrillas claimed to have executed Sobero in June. He was one of three Americans and 17 Filipinos the group abducted from a resort on Palawan Island.

Because Sobero’s body had never been found, his family refused to hold a memorial service, clinging to the faint hope that the rebels were lying or that the father of four had somehow escaped.

“We were holding out. We’re still trying to cope with it,” his brother said. Sobero’s wife could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

FBI officials have asked family members to provide strands of Sobero’s hair so investigators can extract a DNA sample to compare to the corpse’s DNA. The family already has given the FBI his dental and medical records.

Abu Sayyaf, which has an estimated 1,000 rebel members, says it is fighting to establish an Islamic state in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines. The group has engaged in a campaign of bombings, assassinations and kidnappings since 1995, according to the U.S. State Department.

The Philippine government has dispatched about 5,000 troops to hunt the rebels. In August, Muslim extremists kidnapped another 36 Filipinos and beheaded at least four, apparently in retribution for the government crackdown.

On Tuesday, Sobero’s brother criticized the Bush administration for not taking stronger action against the guerrillas.

“I’m waiting for our government to condemn my brother’s murder, and for charges to be filed against those criminals responsible,” Alberto Sobero said. “It’s time for the United States to address the issue now that we know how barbaric they are.”

A State Department official said Tuesday that America’s involvement in the Sobero case was limited because there was no confirmation that he had been killed. If the FBI determines Sobero was killed by the rebels, the U.S. would offer assistance but depend on the Philippine government to bring the perpetrators to justice, the official said.

In June, State Department spokesman Phillip T. Reeker called the murders in the Philippines a cowardly act, and said the United States would hold the Abu Sayyaf group “responsible for the safety and welfare of all the people it is holding.” At the time, Sobero’s reported beheading had not been confirmed.