ABU Sayyaf guerrillas have beheaded four hostages, delivering a grim riposte to a military pursuit in the southern Philippines, authorities said yesterday.
The rebels, who hold 21 other hostages including two Americans, raided Lamitan town on the island of Basilan shortly before midnight on Thursday and seized 31 Christian residents including four children.
Wearing black hoods and armed with machetes, assault rifles and grenade launchers, the terrorists hacked another resident and left him for dead, then burned down a school before fleeing, said local police Supt Akmadul Pangambayan.
The victim, Mr Antonio de los Santos, was taken to hospital with serious injuries, officials said.
Four of the male hostages were found decapitated near their village, Supt Pangambayan said. Eleven hostages were recovered alive, leaving the raiders with 16.
"Precisely because the heat was so strong, the Abu Sayyaf had to do this retaliatory action," the Philippines President, Ms Gloria Arroyo, said.
"That is how war is," she said. "As a government we cannot be blackmailed." Congress and the Catholic Church both demanded a strong response.
The Abu Sayyaf has been kidnapping Christians and foreigners in the impoverished south for years, demanding large ransom payments and sometimes killing its captives.
The rebels insist they are Islamic independence fighters but the government considers them bandits.