Philippines: Foreign hostages appear in video

Three foreign men and a Filipina kidnapped last month in the southern Philippines have appeared in a video posted online, making demands for the Islamic militants who abducted them.

Gunmen raided a luxury marina near the major southern city of Davao on September 21, abducting the Norwegian owner of the resort, two Canadian tourists and one of their girlfriends.

No group immediately claimed responsibility but the video uploaded on YouTube yesterday appeared to confirm it was the Abu Sayyaf, which has a long history of kidnappings-for-ransom in the southern Philippines.

In the video, the three foreigners appealed for Philippine authorities to halt military assaults against the gunmen.

The hostages were sitting on the ground, surrounded by at least eight men holding high-powered machine guns. One man also holds a large knife.

After the three foreigners spoke, one of the gunmen, with a scarf and sunglasses completely covering his face, spoke in English, repeating his demand for military operations to stop against “us”.

He said once the military operations stopped, the kidnappers would be prepared to start negotiations for the hostages’ freedom. In all other Abu Sayyaf kidnappings of foreigners, the group has demanded and often received large sums of money for the release of its captives.