Abu Sayyaf parade hostages in sickening video after beheading Canadian

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfQGfj78H8M

Islamic militants in the Philippines have issued a fresh threat to harm three hostages – just a week after brutally beheading a fourth captive.

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The kidnap victims – from Canada, Norway and the Philippines – appealed for help from their respective governments in a video uploaded to YouTube.

Canadian Robert Hall, presumably speaking under duress, said: “To the Philippine government: Please stop shooting at us and trying to kill us. These guys are going to do a good job of that.”

He said the kidnappers had told him to tell his own government “to meet the demand” — though he did not specify what the demand was.

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The southern Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf announced last week that they had beheaded a Canadian hostage, retiree John Ridsdel, after a ransom deadline lapsed.

Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and Marites Flor, Hall’s Filipina girlfriend, also pleaded with their governments.

The video showed them sitting on the ground, beneath what appeared to be a coconut plantation, with six gunmen standing behind them.

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The Norwegian said that “if the demand is not met we will be executed like our friend John was a few days ago”.

One of the gunmen then warned Manila to heed the “lesson” of Ridsdel’s killing and avoid delays in negotiations.

President Benigno Aquino III has vowed to “neutralise” the militant group and his government has said it will not negotiate with a group it considers a terrorist organization.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said – after announcing Ridsdel’s murder – that he would not negotiate with terrorists.

Aquino said the three hostages were being held on the remote Jolo Island.

Ridsdel and the three were snatched from a resort last year, with the kidnappers demanding millions of dollars in ransom.

On Sunday, the gunmen freed 10 Indonesian sailors they had abducted at sea five weeks earlier.

But they are also still holding four Malaysian and four other Indonesian sailors, as well as a Dutch birdwatcher abducted in 2012.