Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have said the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers have released three Indonesian hostages.
Advertisement
On Saturday, Abu Sayyaf released the Norwegian hostage Kjartan Sekkingstad, who had been held in captivity since September 21, 2015.
The trio were taken yesterday to the nearby city of Zamboanga, where a retired Indonesian general was waiting to pick them up.
Kjartan Sekkingstad was freed in Patikul town in Sulu province and was eventually secured by rebels from the larger Moro National Liberation Front, which has signed a peace deal with the government and helped negotiate his release, officials said.
The military has said that after a medical check-up and deiefing, Sekkingstad would fly to the southern city of Davao to be received by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Sekkingstad was kidnapped from a marina on southern Samal Island on September 21, 2015, with Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall and Hall’s Filipino girlfriend, Marites Flor, sparking a massive land and sea search by Philippine forces.
But regional military spokesman Major Filemon Tan said the release of the victim was the result of “an offshoot of ongoing military operations. and the assistance of the MNLF”.
Mr Sekkingstad said that during the separate killings in April and June, the two handcuffed Canadians were escorted out of sight, “but still close enough that you could hear their cries when it happened”.
“He is now released by captors and (is) staying overnight with Nur Misuari’s camp. due to heavy rain”, Duterte’s peace adviser Jesus Dureza told AFP.
He also said the “relentless and focused military operations” have had a “great impact” on the release of the hostages.
The fiery leader, who has threatened to eat the militants alive in a bloodthirsty vow of revenge for the attack in Davao that killed 15 people, said the group was no longer just after money from criminal activities. “Now if there was a third party who made the payment, if it’s the family (of those kidnapped), we are not aware of that”.
Yet he expressed optimism that the remaining five hostages would soon be freed, following a Philippine military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf gunmen.
One of the crew told reporters through an interpreter that life in the captivity of the Abu Sayyaf in the jungles of Sulu had been very hard and “more like death”.
Ridsdel and Hall were beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf supposedly after ransom demands were not met. Flor was released by the militants in June.
The Indonesian minister denied reports that a 10 million peso ($209,000) ransom was paid for the release of the fishermen, stressing “we stick to the no ransom payment method”. The three crewmen were on board a Malaysian-flagged fishing boat when kidnapped by the militants on July 9 in Lahat Datu waters in Malaysia.
Sulu-based professor Octavio Dinampo said he had “heard P30 million was paid to the Abu Sayyaf Group”. Sekkingstad had been working at a yacht club in the southern portion of the country where Abu Sayyaf is active, and the three others were guests.
Advertisement
Numerous Filipino and foreign civilians have been kidnapped in the southern Philippines and parts of neighbouring Malaysia and used as hostages to extract ransoms.
