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Kantner, 69, and his wife were reportedly kidnapped off Somalia on board the Rockall in 2008 and later freed by Somali pirates, Tan said. Authorities did not know whether the woman kidnapped in Somalia is the same woman who was killed.

Troops took custody of the woman’s body and the yacht Monday. Both were being examined by police investigators in Tawi Tawi province near Sulu, the military’s Western Mindanao Command said in a statement.

“Alarming is that the body found was naked and had several contusions to the face and was possibly raped,” the military said.

In Berlin, Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said German authorities were working with their Philippine counterparts to learn what happened.

“We can and will confirm such reports … only when German consular employees have really established without doubt, with their own eyes and ears or by other means, that they are correct,” Schaefer said. “We’re not there yet.”

The Abu Sayyaf, which is blacklisted by the U.S. and the Philippines as a terrorist organization, holds more than a dozen foreign and local hostages.

Abu Sayyaf and allied gunmen have committed many attacks at sea despite efforts by the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia to jointly shore up security along their busy sea border. Indonesians and Malaysians have been kidnapped from tugboats and fishing boats in recent months.

Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed receiving information about the separate kidnappings of two Indonesian skippers of vessels off Sabah over the weekend, saying it was touch with Malaysian and Philippine government officials about the latest kidnappings.