Philippines: Filipino hostage freed

By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (AA) - A Daesh-linked terror group released Monday one of its Filipino captives kidnapped alongside his parents last year in the country's troubled southern Mindanao after her family reportedly paid a ransom.

Eight-year-old Ricson Romoc, son of previously released captives – his father, Elmer Romoc, and mother, Nora -- was released by the Abu Sayyaf armed group in Patikul, an adjacent town of Indanan in Sulu, where a German hostage, Jurgen Kantner, was beheaded by his captors.

Suspected Abu Sayyaf-linked kidnap-for-ransom gang abducted the Romocs in the town of Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay on Aug. 5, 2016.

No details were provided by the local authorities on how the young Romoc was released. A report of the Rappler online news site, however, said the family of the victim allegedly paid the P3 million ($59,700) ransom for his safe release.

Ricson's mother, Nora, who supervises the family's two small stores, was released on Aug. 23 after allegedly paying an unspecified ransom. His father was freed three months after the kidnapping.

Kidnap-for-ransom gangs frequently operate in the Philippines' southern Zamboanga Peninsula and the island provinces of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan.

They are known to hand over their captives to the Abu Sayyaf group and negotiate for a ransom that, if paid, is shared with the terrorist organization.

- German hostage beheaded

On Monday, the Daesh-linked group posted on social media a video showing the beheading of German hostage Jurgen Kantner.

The video showed a machete-wielding militant behead the elderly German hostage, who had appealed for help twice in short video messages, saying he would be killed if a ransom was not paid.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) confirmed Tuesday the execution of Kantner by the terrorist group based on information from official sources in Sulu.

"We have finally received information from reliable sources confirming that Mr. Juergen Gustav Kantner was mercilessly and inhumanly murdered by the evil KFR (kidnap-for-ransom) Abu Sayyaf Group," a state-run news outfit quoted AFP Public Affairs Office Chief Col. Edgard Arevalo as saying.

Kantner was kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf while his yacht was cruising off Sulu waters last November. His companion, 56-year-old Sabine Mertz, was shot dead by the militants.

Meanwhile, government security forces have killed an Abu Sayyaf-linked kidnap-for-ransom-gang leader and captured two of his followers in a clash in the southern province of Mindanao.

Police said a member of its Special Action Force was also wounded in the clash in the town of Alicia, Zamboanga Sibugay around 3 a.m. Tuesday (1900GMT Monday).

- Arrest warrant for murder

Zamboanga Peninsula Police Chief Superintendent Billy Beltran confirmed that Iman Yasin was killed while two others were captured during a firefight.

He said Yasin resisted when government operatives delivered the arrest warrant.

Authorities listed Yasin, who has standing warrant of arrest for murder, as an operative linked to the Abu Sayyaf Group and other lawless groups operating in the Zamboanga provinces.

The Abu Sayyaf Group has pledged allegiance to Daesh, which has endorsed Isnilon Hapilon, one of the terror group's key leaders, as "emir" for southeast Asia.

Since 1991, the group -- armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles -- has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortion in a self-determined fight for an independent province in the Philippines.