Body of beheaded German hostage found: Manila
manila — Philippine troops have found the remains of a German hostage who was beheaded by Abu Sayyaf militants in the country’s south after a ransom deadline lapsed, officials said on Sunday.
Marines dug up the head and body of Juergen Gustav Kantner late Saturday in the mountainous hinterlands of Indanan town in Sulu province, where the ransomseeking militants are holding at least 31 other foreign and Filipino hostages, said regional military commander Maj. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr.
The 70-year-old Kantner was seized from his yacht, Rockall, with his female German companion off Malaysia’s Sabah state in November. Kantner’s companion was fatally shot on the yacht, which was
once again, the command is sending its deep regrets to the family for not being able to rescue Mr Kantner on time Carlito Galvez Jr, regional military commander
later found in the southern Philippines, according to the military.
The couple had survived a kidnapping ordeal off Somalia in 2008.
“Once again, the command is sending its deep regrets to the family for not being able to rescue Mr. Kantner on time,” Galvez said, and repeated a pledge to rescue other hostages and crush the Abu Sayyaf. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has condemned Kantner’s killing as an “abominable act.” The Abu Sayyaf circulated a video of the beheading online.
President Rodrigo Duterte apologised to Germany and Kantner’s family after government forces failed to rescue him in his nearly four months of captivity in Sulu, a poor Muslim province 950 kilometres south of Manila.
About two dozen Filipino troops were wounded in clashes that also killed 16 Abu Sayyaf gunmen in efforts to find and rescue Kantner. After he was beheaded, troops intensified ground assaults and airstrikes.
On Sunday, marines killed four Abu Sayyaf militants in an assault near Sulu’s Maimbung town. —