Three Abu Sayyaf rebels arrested

Three Abu Sayyaf rebels arrested

MANILA (AFP): Philippine authorities have arrested a senior leader of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap gang and two of his aides in the southern island of Basilan, the military said on Sunday.

The authorities declined to identify the ranking detainee, who they said carried a five million-peso (about $97,000) prize on his head.

The gang, which describes itself as a Muslim separatist guerrilla group, is holding 18 hostages including U.S. Christian missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham, both Kansas natives.

When the couple was seized along with another American and 17 Filipinos in the western Philippines resort of Dos Palmas in late May, President Gloria Arroyo offered a $2 million bounty on the kidnappers -- $97,000 for each leader and $19,400 for each member.

The gunmen have beheaded more than a dozen Filipino captives and claim to have decapitated Peru-born Californian Guillermo Sobero, who the government presumes is already dead.