Bodies Of Slain Sayyaf Hostages Flown To Manila

Battle-hardened troops fighting the Abu Sayyaf return to Zamboanga City aboard a C130 military plane in Jolo island in southern RP 14 Aug 2006 . The plane is also carrying sealed caskets of two Abu Sayyaf hostages, Jacky Selvin, 58, and her son Jeffrey, 27. The Abu Sayyaf beheaded Jeffrey and tortured his mother to death after they failed to pay P10 million ransom. (Zamboanga Journal)

JOLO ISLAND (Juan Magtanggol / 14 Aug) A Philippine military C130 cargo plane on Monday transported the remains of two Abu Sayyaf hostages from Jolo island in the southern Philippines to Manila where grieving relatives were waiting.

The two, Jacky Selvin, 58, and her son Jeffrey, were both killed by the Abu Sayyaf group after their family failed to pay P10 million ransom.

Lady Ann Sahidula, the island's deputy governor, said the woman was tortured before she was killed by her captors. "They slashed her breast, poured denatured alcohol on her eyes and hacked her death. It was barbaric," Sahidula told the Zamboanga Journal, describing detailed reports of how Jacky Selvin was tortured.

The woman's son was found beheaded at the weekend. The head was thrown in front of a police headquarters.

The Selvins were originally from Luzon, but had a bakery business in Jolo.

Officials said four suspected Abu Sayyaf militants and a police officer were also killed in a clash Saturday with security forces which tried to rescue the woman. The mother and son were kidnapped July 27 outside their house at Gandasuli Road in Jolo.

The Abu Sayyaf had carried high-profile kidnappings in the past, including a daring raid on the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan in 2000 where it seized 21 Asian and European holiday-makers, and a similar attack on the posh Dos Palmas resort in the central Philippine island of Palawan a year later where militants seized 17 Filipinos and three U.S. citizens, two of whom, including an American hostage, were later killed and beheaded.Washington offered as much as $5 million bounty for known Abu Sayyaf leaders, including Khadaffy Janjalani.

President Gloria Arroyo also put up P100 million rewards for the capture of the group's leaders and their members dead or alive.