Al-Qaeda linked militant group members beheaded a pro-government militiaman in the troubled southern Philippines on Saturday.
The troops were guarding a town's water system following a series of blackmail demands by Abu Sayyaf when they were attacked by about 20 gunmen.
According to the military the troops pursued the militants and killed two of them.
Abu Sayyaf, was formed in the early 1990s, with seed funding from Al-Qaeda. Its militants have been blamed for many of the deadliest attacks in the Philippines, including the 2004 firebombing of a ferry on Manila Bay that killed over 100 people.
