Jihadists capture beheading of tourist on video after ransom deadline passes
● German killed in Philippines ● ‘Barbaric’ action condemned
Abu Sayyaf extremists in the Philippines have released a video of the beheading of a German hostage.
The brief video circulated yesterday by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites, is the first sign that the brutal militants proceeded with their threat to kill Jurgen Gustav Kantner in the southern Philippines after a Sunday ransom deadline lapsed.
The video shows Mr Kantner sitting in a grassy clearing and saying “Now he kill me”, shortly before am asked mi liforeign ministry spokesman tant beheads him. A few gunmen are heard to mutter “Allahu Akbar”, or God is great.
President Rodrigo Duterte’s adviser dealing with Muslim rebel groups, Jesus Dureza, condemned the killing as barbaric, saying the Philippine military and other groups “exhausted all efforts to save his life” up to the final moment.
“We grieve as we strongly condemn the barbaric beheading of yet another kidnap victim,” Mr Dureza. “We all tried our best. But to no avail.”
Military spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla said he “will not dignify that video by watching it”.
“They can shout and claim whatever they want but we will not rely on this,” he said, adding an ongoing offensive against the Abu Sayyaf and attempts to rescue foreign and local hostages held by the militants would continue.
Martin Schaefer said German experts were evaluating the video to determine whether it is authentic, but that if it is, it’s “deeply shocking”.
“It makes you question what can lead people to commit such a barbaric crime, but at the moment I’m not in a posi- tion to say whether the video’s authentic.”
The militants had demanded a ransom of 30 million pesos (£487,000), officials said.
The Philippine military said in November that the Abu Sayyaf claimed its gunmen had kidnapped Mr Kantner and killed a woman sailing with him off neighbouring Malaysia’s Sabah state.
Villagers reported finding a dead woman lying beside a shotgun on board a light blue yacht with the German flag and marked “Rockall” off Laparan Island in Sulu, the military said.
The predominantly Muslim province is where ransom-seeking militants have held many hostages in jungle encampments. Mr Kantner was also kidnapped by Somali pirates years ago.
In Germany, foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said experts were evaluating the video to determine whether it was authentic, but that if it was, it’s “deeply shocking”.
He added: “It makes you question what can lead people to commit such a barbaric crime, but, at the moment, I’m not in a position to say whether the video’s authentic.”