Military says closing in on militants in beheadings

ZAMBOANGA (AFP) - The Philippine military said Saturday it was closing in on Islamic extremists who ambushed and killed 14 marines this week in the nation's volatile south.

The 14 marines were slain and some were beheaded on Basilan island as they searched for a kidnapped Italian priest, following a tipoff that he was being held in the area.

The military accused the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic extremist group known to have ties with Al-Qaeda, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a Muslim separatist guerrilla group, of joining forces to launch Wednesday's attack.

"We have already identified some of the perpetrators. We are consolidating the offensive against the perpetrators," said Rear Admiral Emilio Marayag, head of naval forces including of marines in the area.

"We have sufficient forces to run after those behind the attack," he said, as the bodies of some of the slain soldiers were carried onto a military transport plane bound for Manila.

The military has poured hundreds of marines into the area in the wake of the killings and intensified its search for Father Giancarlo Bossi, kidnapped from his parish in the Zamboanga peninsula on June 10.

The MILF remained defiant Saturday over the attack, saying they would not return weapons they had seized from the dead men.

MILF peace negotiator Mohaqer Iqbal said the marines had violated a ceasefire by entering MILF territory without first gaining clearance.

"We will not (return them.) This is a legitimate encounter after the other (side) violated the ceasefire," he said.

The MILF, which has a truce in place as it negotiates peace with the government, admits taking part in the ambush but not the beheadings.

Iqbal said the ambush would not affect the peace talks unless the government attacked MILF positions on Basilan.

The military's offensive in the area could hurt the three-year-old truce that the 12,000-strong MILF has with the government, experts have said.

The ceasefire and peace talks only cover the MILF, not the Abu Sayyaf, a group linked to the Al-Qaeda and regional Jemaah Islamiyah terror networks.

Officials have suggested that Abu Sayyaf may be holding Bossi, after they initially believed renegade members of the MILF were involved.