Off the wire
• China Hushen 300 index futures close mixed Tuesday  • China treasury bond futures close lower Tuesday  • Captain America continues to lead Chinese box office  • Death toll from Sri Lanka's flash floods rises to 12, 4 missing  • HIV infection cases nearly double in Russia's Far East region  • S.Korean prosecutors seek 17-year prison term for attacker of U.S. envoy  • Spotlight: Rapidly aging society, hollowed out workforce eviscerating Japan's local economies  • Australia's backpacker tax delayed until January 2017  • Shanghai Disneyland responds to pricey food claims  • Infighting between Taliban rival factions kill 5 insurgents in W. Afghanistan  
You are here: 　 Home

Philippine terror group threatens to behead another captive

Xinhua, May 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Philippine terror group Abu Sayyaf has threatened to behead another hostage if its demand of 600 million pesos (12 million U.S. dollars) is not met, local media reported on Tuesday.

In a new video posted on the Internet, the group said the hostage will be killed on June 13 if the ransom is not paid. However, it didn't verify which one will be killed, the Philippine daily Standard reported.

The terror group seized Canadian Robert Hall, Norwegian Kijartan Sekkingstad and John Ridsdel in August last year in a beach resort in the Mindanao region in the southern part of the Philippines.

Ridsdel was killed last month.

The terror group aired its new demand even as the Armed Forces said operations were still ongoing to rescue the hostages.

"We have not stopped. We will not cease until these bandits are held accountable for their actions," the military spokesman Restituto Padilla said.

It was reported that insurgency in the southern island of Mindanao has left as many as 200,000 people dead.

Incoming President Rodrigo Duterte, who hails from Mindanao and has served more than two decades as mayor of Davao City, has pledged to revive peace talks with separatist groups after he takes office on June 30.

"We don't go to war with our own people, but at one time I would ask them to release the hostages," Duterte has told reporters in Davao City, referring to Abu Sayyaf.

Duterte added that the abductions in Mindanao must stop because it is hurting Philippine's image abroad. Endit