Abus set deadline for hostages

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Abu Sayyaf bandits holding three Westerners and a Filipino woman in the jungles of Sulu have set a one-month deadline for millions of dollars in ransom to be paid, according to a video released Thursday.

In the video posted on the Facebook page of Pamantasan ng Tawheed at Jihad Filibin, the emaciated hostages said they would be killed if the ransom was not paid by April 8.

Canadian tourists John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, Norwegian resort manager Kjartan Sekkingstad and Hall’s Filipino girl friend Marites Flor were seized from a resort in the Island Garden City of Samal in Davao del Norte province in September last year.

While the ransom amount was not specified, the Abu Sayyaf in an earlier video demanded $21 million (P1 billion) for each of the three foreigners, without mentioning the conditions for Flor’s release.

Hall identified their captors as members of the Abu Sayyaf, a bandit group notorious for kidnapping and beheading foreigners in the south.

He said they were being held in Sulu, hideout of the Abu Sayyaf.

Hall, shown seated next to Flor, asked the Canadian government to help them.

“I am a Canadian citizen being held by the Abu Sayyaf group for ransom. The amount is, I do not know what it is. But the Canadian government has got to get us out of here fast, to do what is necessary to get us out here soon. We got one month before this happens,” he said. With a report from AFP