ZAMBOANGA, Philippines ? The Philippine military on Saturday offered a 50,000-peso (dlrs 1,000) reward for the recovery of the body of Muslim extremist leader Abu Sabaya, who was presumed dead after a clash at sea with U.S.-trained soldiers a day earlier.

Abu Sabaya, a notorious leader and spokesman for the al-Qaida linked Abu Sayyaf group, was believed to have been killed with two of his men in a brief gunbattle before dawn Friday off Mindanao island.

The military said they were among seven guerrillas trying to escape a massive military operation after a clash two weeks earlier in which two of the group’s last three hostages were killed.

A kidnapping spree by Sabaya’s men last year sparked the first expansion of the American war on terrorism with a U.S. counterterrorism training exercise to help Philippine soldiers wipe out the Abu Sayyaf.

The military said four guerrillas were captured, while Sabaya and the two others were killed while trying to swim away. The military commander in the southern Philippines, Maj. Gen. Ernesto Carolina, said one of the captured men later died of a heart attack.

No bodies have been found. But Carolina showed reporters a pair of Sabaya’s trademark sunglasses, a driver’s license and other personal items from a backpack recovered at the scene. Those items and reports from the guerrillas and soldiers involved in the clash confirm he died, Carolina said.

In ceremonies attended by top Philippine military officials and Brig. Gen. Donald Wurster, commander of the U.S. troops here, 22 Philippine marine and navy special forces soldiers involved in Friday’s clash received the Gold Cross medal for gallantry in action.

Marine Capt. Gieram Aragones said the soldiers had been using the same speedboat that Sabaya used in a May 27, 2001, raid on a resort where they seized three Americans and 17 Filipinos. The boat was later found abandoned.

Aragones said they caught the guerrillas by surprise when they rammed the smaller Abu Sayyaf boat. He said about seven soldiers were designated to fire on the left side, where Sabaya was seated, and continued “very discriminate, deliberate” shots at him after he fell into the water.

“We were so close that we could smell their gunpowder,” he said. “I am 100 percent sure that Sabaya is dead.”

Carolina also said troops arrested Abbas Samson, a local village chief in Sibuco, on suspicion he gave sanctuary to Sabaya’s group. Samson could face a conspiracy charge for alleged complicity in the Abu Sayyaf kidnappings.

Carolina said Sabaya’s group stayed at Samson’s house while they waited for a boat to take them to safety.

“They were desperate because … they were running out of food (and) the Abu Sayyaf had no established support system there,” Aragones said.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo congratulated the military. In a speech aired nationwide on radio Saturday, she proudly said she would not stop until the rebels were wiped out.

U.S. President George W. Bush telephoned Arroyo Saturday to discuss Friday’s operation and pass along his satisfaction with the progress of U.S.-Philippine efforts to the extremists, the White House said.

“The president indicated he was pleased with the successful operation,” said White House deputy press secretary Scott McClellan.

In general, Bush told Arroyo he is pleased with the special cooperation between the two countries, McClellan said.

Wurster, the U.S. commander, praised the operation and said Sabaya had “no chance” of surviving.

“That was a Philippine operation A to Z,” he said. “We were involved in all the communications and we knew what they planned to do and we offered them help in ways to strengthen their already very capable plans.”

U.S. troops began a six-month mission earlier this year to help the under-trained and under-equipped Philippine troops.

Sabaya led guerrillas in the pre-dawn raid on the Dos Palmas resort last year in which they snatched 17 Filipinos and three Americans _ missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham of Kansas, and Guillermo Sobero of California.

They abducted dozens more over the following months. Some were killed; others escaped and the rest were freed, reportedly for large ransoms.

Only the Burnhams and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap were left when troops tracked down the rebels on June 7. Martin Burnham and Yap were killed in the ensuing battle, and Gracia was injured but survived and rescued.