Hooded gunmen from the Abu Sayyaf Muslim militia beheaded four Christian villagers on a southern Philippine island after kidnapping more than 30 people, the army said today.
Two villagers managed to escape after the attack on Thursday night on the island of Basilan, 900 kilometres south of Manila, officers said.
Nine villagers were set free and one of them brought back a message from the gunmen that the others would be killed unless a military offensive on the Abu Sayyaf was halted, army chief Lieutenant General Jose Calimlim told reporters.
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Members of the Muslim rebel group Abu Sayyaf pose with their firearms at a remote hideout on the southern Philippine island of Basilan
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The Abu Sayyaf is holding at least 21 other hostages on Basilan, including a US missionary couple kidnapped in May.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said the guerrillas could not blackmail her government.
"Probably...because the heat is so strong, the Abu Sayyaf had to do this retaliatory action or diversionary action," she told a news conference.
"That's how war is. War is never one-sided so my reaction to all this is that as a government we cannot be blackmailed."
The military also condemned the recent attack on civilians.
This is a barbaric act, they killed innocents. This showed how barbaric they are, Calimlim said.
The self-styled Abu Sayyaf rebels claim to be fighting for an independent Islamic state in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines but their main activity is kidnap for ransom.