Philippine rebels sentenced to life for kidnapping

MANILA (Reuters) - A Philippine court sentenced 14 members of Muslim militant group Abu Sayyaf to life in prison on Thursday for the kidnapping of 20 people from a beach resort in the Philippines in 2001 and the decapitation of three of them.

Three Americans were among the captives but two were killed. Guillermo Sobero was beheaded while Martin Burnham, a U.S. pilot working as a missionary in the Southeast Asian country, was killed in an army rescue operation.

Four other people including one woman, were acquitted of the charges on Thursday.