German hostage beheaded by Philippine militants

A video posted by the extremist Abu Sayyaf group showed German hostage Jurgen Kantner being murdered by a knife-wielding man.

Jurgen Kantner pictured in 2009. Mustafa Abdi / AFP Photo

MANILA // Islamic militants in the Philippines have beheaded a 70-year-old German hostage they were holding for ransom, Manila officials said on Monday, as Berlin condemned the murder as “unscrupulous and inhumane”.

The Abu Sayyaf group, blamed for the worst terror attacks in Philippine history, had demanded a ransom of 30 million pesos (Dh2.2m) be paid by Sunday to spare Jurgen Kantner.

After the expiration of the deadline the extremists posted a gruesome video showing Kantner being killed by a knife-wielding man, according to which intelligence group Site.

Shortly after the clip appeared Philippines government envoy Jesus Dureza confirmed the death of Kantner, who was abducted from his yacht off the southern Philippines last year.

“We grieve as we strongly condemn the barbaric beheading of yet another kidnap victim,” Mr Dureza said.

“Up to the last moment, many sectors including the Armed Forces of the Philippines exhausted all efforts to save his life. We all tried our best. But to no avail,” said Mr Dureza.

Military officials in the south said they had not yet found the German’s body.

Kantner and his companion were taken captive in November while sailing on a 53-footer yacht near Sabah, eastern Malaysia, and brought to Jolo.

The body of his female companion Sabine Merz was found with a gunshot wound on his vessel, the Rockall, which was found drifting on November 7. She was reportedly shot dead while trying to resist the militants.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert later condemned “the abhorrent act”.

“After weeks of worry, we have today the sad certainty that a German hostage has been barbarically murdered by terrorist kidnappers in the Philippines,” he said.

“[The killing] once again shows, how unscrupulous and inhumane the actions of these terrorists are. We must stand together and fight against them.”

The couple had been kidnapped and held for 52 days in Somalia in 2008 before they were freed, reportedly after a huge ransom was paid, media reports said.

Despite his ordeal in Somalia, Kantner said in 2009 that he still intended to keep sailing into perilous waters.

“I know it’s dangerous sailing off into Somali waters and I have no private security guarding me, but I pray to God that pirates won’t get me again. It’s a little bit like suicide,” he said after being freed.

The Abu Sayyaf has made tens of millions of dollars from ransom money since it was formed in the 1990s, security experts say, channelling it into guns, grenade launchers, high-powered boats and modern equipment.

The group, whose leaders have pledged allegiance to ISIL, have been kidnapping foreigners and Christians for decades and holding them for ransom in the jungles of the strife-torn southern Philippines.

They have frequently killed hostages if their demands are not met, and murdered two Canadians last year.

They are believed to be holding 26 hostages — 13 Vietnamese, seven Filipinos, a Dutch national, a Japanese, two Indonesians and two Malaysians. They have freed several others in return for ransom payments.

The group, formed from seed money provided by a relative of Al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden, also carried out the bombing of a ferry in Manila Bay in 2004 that claimed 116 lives in the country’s deadliest terror attack.

The military had been pressing an assault against the Abu Sayyaf, attacking their camps and bombing their hideouts just before Kantner was killed.

* Agence France-Presse and Reuters