Associated Press
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — Three members of the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf led the Philippine military Friday to a shallow grave containing remains they claimed were those of an American tourist kidnapped more than four months ago.
Forensic tests will be needed to confirm the identity of the remains, said Col. Hermogenes Esperon, army commander on Basilan, the Philippine island where the grave was found.
But he said the army has reason to believe the remains are those of Guillermo Sobero of Corona, Calif. The body had been decapitated and the skull was in the same grave, he said.
The rebels have said they beheaded Sobero, a native of Peru, and have threatened to also kill a Kansas couple if the government does not call off the military.
More than 5,000 government troops are searching Basilan for the rebels, who abducted Sobero on May 27 from a resort in the western Philippines, along with missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham of Wichita, Kan. Seventeen Filipinos also were seized and taken with the three Americans by boat to Basilan.
Most of the hostages have been either released or killed. The rebels have since conducted three other mass kidnappings of villagers and are believed to be holding about 17 hostages in all, including the Burnhams.
The Abu Sayyaf — which reportedly has links with Osama bin Laden, the principal suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States — claims to be fighting for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines. The government regards it as a bandit gang, and the United States has included the Abu Sayyaf on a list of terrorist organizations.
Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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