Abu Sayyaf group beheads another Canadian hostage

[Locutus]

Military source tells Al Jazeera Canadian Robert Hall was executed by the armed group based in the southern Philippines.

Manila, Philippines - The Abu Sayyaf group has beheaded another Canadian hostage held on a southern Philippine island after ransom demands apparently were not met.

Robert Hall was confirmed dead on Monday by a military source who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity prior to the official announcment.

"Today Canadian kidnap victim identified as Robert Hall was beheaded by his abductor ... the Abu Sayyaf group," the military source said.

Abu Sayyaf spokesman were phoning local media on Monday noting the deadline for Hall's ranson had passed at 3pm local time and he had been killed.


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Abu Sayyaf group beheads another Canadian hostage - News from Al Jazeera

 

[Walter]

Religion of Peace in action.

 

[tay]

Second Canadian Hostage Killed in Philippines

Islamist extremists on Monday (June 13) executed the second of three foreigners they took from a high-end resort in the strife-torn southern Philippine island group of Mindanao, amid a military rescue operation involving up to eight battalions.

The small, but brutal, Abu Sayyaf group carried out its threat to behead Mr Robert Hall, 51, a Canadian, at 3pm on Monday in Jolo island, Sulu province, some 1,000km south of the capital Manila, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported, citing a spokesman named Abu Raami.

A separate source in Jolo confirmed with The Straits Times Mr Hall had been executed.

Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla, the military spokesman, said: "I cannot confirm or deny it. We don't have reports yet coming from our units on the ground.”

The militants had demanded 600 million pesos (S$18 million) in ransom for Mr Hall and a Norwegian resort manager, Mr Kjartan Sekkingstad, 57

Mr Hall, Mr Sakkingstad, another Canadian, Mr John Ridsdel, and a Filipina, Ms Maritess Flor, 41, were taken on Sept 21 last year (2015) by the Abu Sayyaf from the Holiday Oceanview Samal resort on Samal island, in Davao province.

Mr Ridsdel, 68, a former mining executive and journalist, was beheaded on April 25.

The Inquirer reported that Mr Hall, just hours before his scheduled execution, had appealed to the Philippine government “to get us all out here”.

“My condition is pretty bad. We have been starved, our sleep is deprived and they threaten to beat me,” Mr Hall told the Inquirer by phone.

Efforts to hunt down heavily armed, well-stocked and mobile groups of Abu Sayyaf bandits with a network of checkpoints and battalions of soldiers have proven to be ineffective – and even fatal for both troops and hostages - in the past.

On April 9, Abu Sayyaf gunmen killed 18 Filipino soldiers searching for hostages in a day-long battle.

The only operation that led to some measure of success was in 2002, when US-backed Philippine special forces units ambushed a group of bandits holding American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham, and a Filipino nurse, Ms Ediborah Yap.

Mrs Burnham was rescued, but her husband and Ms Yap were killed in the ensuing crossfire.

In most cases, hostages were released after payment of millions worth of ransom. One of the Abu Sayyaf’s biggest recent windfalls is believed to have come in 2014 when it claimed to have been paid more than US$5 million (S$6.7 million) for the release of German physician Stefan Okonek, 71, and his companion, Ms Henrike Dielen, 55, abducted from aboard their yacht.

Another Canadian hostage killed by Philippines militant group Abu Sayyaf, SE Asia News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

 

[Walter]

Re: Second Canadian Hostage Killed in Philippines

Mods, please merge.