MANILA, Philippines?Bandits have executed one of two men they seized after raiding a village in Basilan on Good Friday, Marine spokesperson Capt. Neil Estrella said Monday.

Government troops pursuing the bandits roughly numbering 40 found Cosme Aballes? remains in the town of Lamitan on Sunday, but authorities expressed the belief that he was killed on the same day he was abducted.

?His head was still attached to his body when our soldiers found him. It appears that the weapon the kidnappers used was dull,? Estrella told reporters at Camp Aguinaldo by phone.

Aballes, 40, was seized along with Ernan Chavez by a group composed of members of the extremist Abu Sayyaf and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Estrella said.

The group attacked Sitio Arco in Lamitan while the residents were observing Good Friday rites.

During the attack, a man identified as Jacinto Clemente was shot dead, Estrella said.

Chavez, 23, is the seventh person being held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan.

?The count does not include the three teachers because we have no indicator that they are in Basilan,? Estrella said.

He was referring to Jocelyn Inion, Jocelyn Enriquez and Noemi Mandi, who were seized at gunpoint while aboard a motorized banca in Zamboanga Sibugay on March 13.

A separate Abu Sayyaf band in Jolo, Sulu, is still holding two European Red Cross aid workers that it seized on Jan. 15.