LANAO DEL SUR - Moro jihadists on Wednesday beheaded two of their Visayan captives, who were snatched along with four others two weeks ago in Butig, Lanao del Sur.
Col. Roseller Murillo, commander of the Army’s 103rd Brigade, said the decapitated cadavers of siblings Salvador and Jaymart Janobas were recovered by policemen in Barangay Bayabao in Butig.
“Their severed heads were found in another spot. They were wearing orange clothes,” Murillo said.
The victims were abducted two weeks ago by militants, led by Abdullah Maute, founder of the Dawlah Islamiya, which means Islamic State in Lanao.
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Maute's group had earlier said the victims were kidnapped for having links with the military.
It accused them of spying on their activities in Butig, now a hotbed of Islamic militancy.
Also kidnapped along with the Janobas brothers were their four companions, Julieto Hanobas, Alfredo Anoos, Gabriel Permites, and Adones Mendez. They were set free by Maute and his men early this week through the intercession of local officials.
The six men were working in a small sawmill, owned by Hadja Anisa Unda, in one of the barangays in Butig, when they were snatched by followers of Maute.
Maute had earlier demanded a P20 million ransom for the two captives, whose poor families had said there was no way for them to raise the amount.
Armed with AK-47 Kalashnikovs and M-14 assault rifles, Maute and his followers carry black flags bearing the insignia of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria when they roam in far-flung barangays in Butig to mulct “protection money” from villagers.
They were driven away from their main enclave southwest of Butig last month by soldiers following more than a week of operation that resulted in fatalities on both sides.