Islamists behead Canada hostage in Philippines

Islamic militants in the Philippines have beheaded a Canadian hostage, sparking fears for more than 20 others they are holding on remote islands, with security forces vowing today to hunt down the extremists.

The man’s head was found on 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,” Mr Trudeau said in Ottawa.

The four were abducted at a marina near the major city of Davao, more than 500 kilometres 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 Canadians 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, demanding $21 million each for their release.