HOSTAGE KILLED,
OTTAWA — Canada’s top Mountie says the rough terrain of the southwestern Philippines might make it difficult to find the killers of two Canadian hostages, but it won’t prevent the ongoing effort to bring them to justice.
RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson’s commitment was affirmed Monday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau following the death of former Campbell River resident Robert Hall, who had been held hostage by Abu Sayyaf since September 2015.
Hall’s death comes after the execution in April of fellow Canadian John Ridsdel, who was snatched from a marina by Abu Sayyaf along with Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and a Philippines national last September.
Paulson said the RCMP is helping local authorities give chase to the kidnappers.
Trudeau said Canada holds Abu Sayyaf fully responsible for Hall’s death, even as the government continues to seek confirmation.
Abu Sayyaf operates mainly in the south of the Philippines, in the western Mindano and the Sulu Archipelago, but staged a major attack in 2004 that killed more than 100 people when militants bombed a ferry in Manila Bay.
The Washington-based SITE Intelligence group said the militants released a video that showed Ridsdel, 68, being beheaded.
The militants said they were angry the Canadian government had failed to meet their demands for a ransom.
In an echo of that tragedy, police in the southern Philippines were investigating the discovery Monday of a severed head, found in a plastic bag on a street in the Sulu province town of Jolo, to determine whether it was related to Hall’s murder.
Trudeau has steadfastly refused to entertain the thought of paying ransom to hostage-takers. On Monday, he repeated that paying ransoms would put more Canadians in danger.