Militants behead 2nd Canadian in Philippines

Islamist militants in the Philippines known as Abu Sayyaf has beheaded a second Canadian hostage in two months, authorities said Tuesday.

“We strongly condemn the brutal and senseless murder of Mr. Robert Hall, a Canadian national, after being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu for the past nine months,” Herminio Coloma, a representative for the Philippines President Benigno Aquino, said in a statement, according to AFP.

A head believed to belong to Hall, 58, was found Monday on an island near an Abu Sayyaf outpost.

In April, the same group decapitated 68-year-old Canadian John Ridsdel. Gunmen had kidnapped Ridsdel and Hall, along with Hall’s Filipina partner Marites Flor and a resort manager from Norway named Kjartan Sekkingstad, in September from the island of Samal.

Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, condemned the terrorists Monday in a Facebook post: “The vicious and brutal actions of the hostage-takers have led to a needless death. Canada holds the terrorist group who took him hostage fully responsible for this cold-blooded and senseless murder.”

Abu Sayyaf has a history of taking hostages and demanding ransoms, which both the Canadian and Philippine governments oppose paying. AFP reports that Abu Sayyaf murdered Hall when a $6.5 million ransom demand was not met.