Beheading suspects slain in Philippines clash: military

MANILA (AFP) - Two Islamic militants accused of beheading 10 soldiers were among those killed in a major clash between Philippine troops and Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the south, the military said Sunday.

Sixteen soldiers were killed and at least 30 members of the Al Qaeda-linked group were killed or wounded in clashes on the southern island of Basilan on Saturday as the military mounted a punitive operation against those accused of killing 14 marines and beheading 10 of them in a July 10 ambush in Basilan.

The bodies of senior Abu Sayyaf leader Furiji Indama and his brother Umair Indama were among the seven recovered by the authorities so far, said military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Bartolome Bacarro.

"These two are among the Abu Sayyaf group who beheaded our marine colleagues," he told reporters.

The rifle of one of the beheaded marines was recovered after the troops overran the Abu Sayyaf training camp, said armed forces chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon.