Freed foreign hostages handed over to Philippine govt

INDANAN: A Norwegian and three Indonesian seamen held hostage in the southern Philippines were turned over to a Philippine government envoy today after being freed by Islamic extremists who had beheaded two captives earlier this year.
Kjartan Sekkingstad and the Indonesians, who had been held by Abu Sayyaf militants, were handed over to envoy Jesus Dureza in the town of Indanan on Jolo island, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
The transfer took place at the heavily guarded camp of another Muslim rebel leader Nur Misuari, whose group assisted in the release according to the government.
Sekkingstad was abducted from a high-end tourist resort which he managed in September 2015, along with two Canadians who were later beheaded.
It was still unclear if the three freed Indonesians were the same ones kidnapped by armed men off a fishing trawler in Malaysian waters in July.
The Abu Sayyaf freed Sekkingstad on Saturday, handing him over to Misuari who is engaged in peace talks with the government and at whose camp he spent the night, Dureza said earlier.
Escorted by a small contingent of Jolo police, Dureza, Misuari, the freed captives and local officials met in a building surrounded by hundreds of Misuari's fighters from the Moro National Liberation Front before leaving for a military camp, the reporter said.
The military has said that after a medical check-up and debriefing, Sekkingstad would fly to the southern city of Davao to be received by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Duterte's spokesman Martin Andanar said in Manila that "the government maintains the no-ransom policy".
"Now, if there is a third party like his family that paid, we do not known anything about that," he said.
Norwegian foreign affairs communications chief Frode Andersen said by phone that his government also did not pay any ransom.
However a spokesman for the Abu Sayyaf was quoted in a local newspaper yesterday as saying the group received 30 million pesos (RM2.5 million) for the Norwegian. – AFP