Two human torsos have been found on a southern Philippine island where Muslim rebels said yesterday they had beheaded a US hostage, but neither body was that of an American, the national security adviser, Mr Roilo Golez, said in Manila.
"The [intelligence] report that I have heard is that a headless body has been found in TipoTipo [on the island of Basilan] but it is a body of a yakan [native Filipino]," Mr Golez said.
"There's another intelligence report that a man was found with his head chopped," Mr Golez said, adding that the second torso was of a man who had a Filipino name and was apparently a volunteer negotiator.
The Abu Sayyaf rebels said yesterday they had beheaded Mr Guillermo Sobero (40), a tourist from Corona, California, one of three Americans taken hostage in May at a southern beach resort.
"We have executed Guillermo Sobero as a gift to the country on Independence Day," a rebel spokesman, Abu Sabaya, told local radio.
He said Mr Sobero's body was left for the troops to find. "The military better hurry up in the rescue because they may not recover anyone alive," he added.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said she had no confirmation of Abu Sayyaf's claim but vowed to crush the group.
The armed forces spokesman, Brig Gen Edilberto Adan, said there was no evidence Mr Sobero had been killed.
"What we know is that it is possible that there could be some dead bodies in the area belonging to natives and some other tribes. But definitely [there is] no report of the body of Sobero being found."
Mr Sobero was one of three Americans and 17 Filipinos kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf on May 27th from the island of Palawan, 560 km south of Manila.
Nine of the Filipino hostages have escaped or been rescued while two have been found dead, apparently executed by the rebels.
The Abu Sayyaf have since taken four hostages from a hospital and church complex in Basilan, an island 900 km south of Manila, and at least 15 hostages from a village in Lantawan on the same island.
Ms Arroyo denounced the Abu Sayyaf, who say they are fighting for an independent state in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines, as bandits interested only in money.