Freed hostage in Philippines says extremists rejoiced over beheadings

Abu Sayyaf extremists in the Philippines rejoiced as they watched two Canadians being beheaded, a freed hostage has said.

Marites Flor tearfully recalled how John Ridsdel and Robert Hall were separately handcuffed and led away to jungle clearing to be decapitated in April and last week respectively. She said Hall was her fiance.

“It’s so painful because I saw them moments before they got beheaded,” Flor told reporters in southern Davao city, where she was flown to meet the president elect, Rodrigo Duterte, after her release on Friday in nearby Sulu province.

“They were watching it and they were happy,” she said of the militants, adding that she did not witness the killings.

Flor, 38, a Filipina, was abducted with Hall, Ridsdel and a Norwegian, Kjartan Sekkingstad, from a yacht resort on southern Samal island in September last year and taken to the jungles of the predominantly Muslim island province of Sulu. The militants killed the two Canadians after ransom deadlines lapsed. The captives were among two dozen people held by Abu Sayyaf this year.

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Image courtesy of Reuters