Filipino forces firm amid hostage threat
Print Edition
PHILIPPINE troops will not get distracted by a threat from Abu Sayyaf militants to behead a German hostage if a ransom was not paid by yesterday’s deadline and will press assaults to crush the brutal group, military officials said.
Military spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla said troops were continuing operations to rescue foreign and local hostages, including German captive Juergen Gustav Kantner, who is believed to be held in the jungles of southern Sulu province.
In a video that circulated online earlier this month, Kantner said the militants would behead him by mid-afternoon yesterday if a ransom were not paid. The militants, who belong to an Abu Sayyaf faction led by Hatib Sawadjaan, were demanding 30 million pesos (US$605,000), officials said.
There was no immediate indication whether the militants had pushed through with their threat to kill Kantner despite a last-minute appeal by President Rodrigo Duterte’s adviser, Jesus Dureza, urging them to spare the hostage.
“Deadline or no deadline, troops are exerting all effort and means in order to go after the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf and to rescue all kidnap victims,” the military command in charge of the Sulu region said in a statement.
“The armed forces will pursue the enemy and dictate the terms, not the other way around,” Padilla said. “We will not be cowed by the demands of evil individuals and groups who continue to perpetuate practices contrary to Islam.”
The Abu Sayyaf is desperate for money and lacks encampments where it could hide its hostages because of continuing battle setbacks, including the killings of eight militants in a February 7 clash with troops in Sulu, military officials said.
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