They are believed to be held in the jungle on Jolo island, a
stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf group, which is known for bombs, beheadings
and kidnappings.
Islamist militants in Philippines set deadline to execute foreign captives(Enca)
Islamist militants in the Philippines on Friday announced a new deadline of April 25 for the execution of three foreign captives and a Filipino, but scaled back their ransom demand in a video posted on social media.
The captives - two Canadian men, a Norwegian man and a Filipino woman - were kidnapped from a beach resort on a southern island last September.
They are believed to be held in the jungle on Jolo island, a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf group, which is known for bombs, beheadings and kidnappings.
In
the video, the captives, with machetes held to their necks, asked their
families and governments to pay a ransom of 300 million pesos ($6.51
million) each, down from the figure of a billion pesos each that the
militants demanded last year.
"This is already an ultimatum," the masked militant leader said. "We will certainly behead one of these four," he added, setting the execution for 3 p.m. on April 25.
There was no explanation why the ransom was reduced or a new deadline set.
A spokesman for the Philippine military declined to comment, saying he had not seen the video.
In the nearly two-minute clip posted on Youtube, the foreigners appealed for the militants' demands to be met.
"I am told to tell you that my ransom is 300 million," said one man, who identified himself as Robert Hall.
"My
specific appeal is to the Canadian government, who, I know, have the
capacity to get us out of here. I'm wondering what they're waiting for."
The other Canadian and the Norwegian also made appeals, but the Filipino woman was not allowed to speak.
The
video was the fourth such appeal released by the militants. In their
third clip last month, they set an April 8 deadline but no ransom was
specified.
Security is precarious in the
resource-rich south of the largely Christian Philippines, despite a 2014
peace pact between the government and the largest Muslim rebel group
that ended 45 years of conflict.
Abu Sayyaf
militants are holding other foreigners, including one from the
Netherlands, one from Japan, four Malaysians and 10 Indonesian tugboat
crew.
On the nearby island of Basilan, government
troops are pursuing another faction of Abu Sayyaf rebels, who killed 18
soldiers and wounded more than 50 in an ambush. The military said 28
Islamist militants, including a Moroccan, were killed. ($1=46.0870
Philippine pesos)
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