Philippine soldiers have found the beheaded bodies of two Vietnamese sailors abducted a year ago by the Abu Sayyaf group near the southern island of Basilan, a Philippine Army spokeswoman said yesterday.
Six Vietnamese sailors were taken captive after Abu Sayyaf militants attacked their cargo ship in June last year. One was rescued last month during a combat operation.
The two bodies were retrieved at about 7am on Tuesday near the town of Sumisip, said Captain Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokeswoman of the Western Mindanao Command.
Photo: AP
“Our troops found the headless bodies after local residents alerted us about the cadavers,” Petinglay told reporters, adding that the heads were found beside the bodies.
The men had been identified as Hoang Thong and Hoang Va Hai, both crew of the ship MV Royal 16, Petinglay said.
“We have informed the Vietnamese embassy in Manila,” she said.
Three more Vietnamese captives still in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf are among 14 foreigners and eight Filipinos still held on Basilan and nearby Jolo Island, Petinglay said.
“This is a desperate measure of the Abu Sayyaf group, because they see they have no gains from their kidnap-for-ransom activity,” Petinglay said.
Elsewhere in the southern region, intense fighting with a larger group of pro-Islamic State militants who seized Marawi City has dragged on for six weeks, killing more than 400 people, including 85 members of the security forces.
The dead include 39 civilians, but local officials said the number could be higher, as intense fighting has denied authorities access to the center of the city.
Military planes and helicopters have been dropping bombs and firing rockets on militants occupying high-rise buildings in the city’s commercial center.
Marines and army rangers fought militants in house-to-house combat to retake the city.
Philippine Secretary of Defence Delfin Lorenzana said that there is pressure on the military to defeat the Muslim militant group before a 60-day period of martial law expires on July 23, a day before Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is to deliver his state of the nation address in the Philippine Congress.
“In my estimate, the clearing operations will take at least a week,” Lorenzana said on Tuesday, adding that the enemy’s resistance was waning as troops gain control of more strategic positions.
Lorenzana said the Philippines last week sent a military plane to the US to acquire an unspecified number and type of bombs and rockets intended to replenish the country’s weapons stockpile, depleted by almost daily bombings in Marawi.
Additional reporting by AFP
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