Sekkingstad, one of the four people captured by the bandit group in Samal a year ago, was released around 2 p.m. on Saturday.
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Also released were three Indonesian hostages from two locations in Luuk municipality, Sulu Province, the Sulu Philippine National Police confirmed. Flor was released also in June, a few weeks after Hall’s execution.
Ambassador Erik Forner of the Royal Norwegian Embassy likewise thanked President Duterte for his “outstanding help and commitment to secure the release of Sekkingstad even before he took office (as President)”.
Chief government peace negotiator Jesus Dureza said after completing the debriefing session, Sekkingstad would then be flown on to meet President Rodrigo Duterte in the southern city of Davao.
The president had instructed Philippine security forces to neutralize the group after a local villager was beheaded last month when his family was too poor to pay ransom.
Three Indonesian nationals and Norwegian national Kjartan Sekkingstad, right, stand next to Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari and other members of the rebel group after the hostages are freed from the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militant group, in Jolo, Sulu in southern Philippines on September 18, 2016.
“I am very happy to be alive and free”, Sekkingstad said at the briefing.
“It was devastating”, the visibly shaken Norwegian said.
“We will continue to forge the support and cooperation of the local residents who will ultimately benefit from the success of these operations”, he said.
Sekkingstad said he and his fellow captives were forced to carry the militants’ belongings and were kept in the dark on what was happening around them.
After the bandits decapitated Ridsdel, Sekkingstad was threatened by his captors, who repeatedly told him, “You’re next”.
Sekkingstad stayed overnight at the residence of Misuari, who volunteered to host his stay because of heavy rains.
Tan said five more Indonesians remain the hands of Abu Sayyaf.
It was still unclear if the three freed Indonesians were the same ones kidnapped by armed men off a fishing trawler in Malaysian waters in July. Solberg told national news agency NTB that “Norwegian officials had not participated in any payment of ransom or made any concessions in the matter”. Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said the three Indonesians had been kidnapped recently.
The group, which is blamed for the worst terror attacks in Philippine history and listed by the United States as a terrorist organisation, has been the target of a military operation since August.
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“He is en route to joint task force Sulu”, Major Tan told AFP. Without any known foreign funding, the extremists have relied on ransom kidnappings, extortion and other acts of banditry, and some commanders have pledged loyalty to the Islamic State militant group partly in the hope of obtaining funds.
