Islamic militants in the Philippines
have beheaded a Canadian hostage, raising fears for more than 20 other
foreigners held captive on remote islands, with troops and police vowing
Tuesday to hunt down the extremists.
Yahoo news reports that the man's head
was found Monday dumped outside city hall on Jolo, a mountainous and
jungle-clad island in the far south of the Philippines that is a stronghold of
the Abu Sayyaf Islamist group.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
and Filipino authorities identified the victim as John Ridsdel, a retiree in
his late 60s who was kidnapped seven months ago from aboard a yacht, along with
another Canadian man, a Norwegian and a Filipina woman.
"This was an act of cold-blooded
murder and responsibility rests with the terrorist group who took him
hostage," Trudeau said in Ottawa.
The four were abducted at a marina near
the major city of Davao, more than 500 kilometres (300 miles) from Jolo, as
part of a wave of abductions by the Abu Sayyaf -- a loose network of militants
who for more than two decades have run a lucrative kidnapping-for-ransom
business.
The other three were fellow Canadian
Robert Hall, Hall's girlfriend Marites Flor and Norwegian resort manager
Kjartan Sekkingstad.
Six weeks after the abduction, gunmen
released a video of their hostages held in a jungle setting, demanding the
equivalent of $21 million each for the safe release of the three foreigners.
The men were forced to beg for their
lives on camera, and similar videos posted over several months showed the
hostages looking increasingly frail.
In the most recent video, Ridsdel said
his captors would kill him on April 25 if a ransom of $6.4 million was not
paid.
Hours after the deadline passed, police
in the Philippines said two people on a motorbike dropped the head near city
hall on Jolo, which is about 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from Manila.
Ridsdel, a former journalist, oil
executive and sailing enthusiast, had moved to the Philippines to manage a gold
mine before retiring.
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