(Repeats to include map where hostages held)
* Philippines confirms execution of Canadian held by Abu
Sayyaf
* Canada and Philippines condemn killing
* Second Canadian executed in past two months
* Al Qaeda-linked group known for beheadings, extortion
By Allison Martell and Manuel Mogato
TORONTO/MANILA, June 14 (Reuters) - The Philippines
confirmed on Tuesday the execution of a Canadian who had been
held hostage by the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Islamist militant
group on a remote southern island with three other people since
September 2015.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in Toronto on
Monday that it appeared the second execution of a Canadian
hostage by Abu Sayyaf in recent months had taken place.
That was later confirmed in Manila.
"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," outgoing
Philippines President Benigno Aquino said in a statement.
A Philippines military spokesman said earlier a severed head
had been found near a Catholic cathedral on a remote southern
island late on Monday. No identification had been made yet.
Hall was taken captive by the militants with three others
from an upscale resort on Samal island, hundreds of miles east
of Jolo. Another Canadian who was held captive, former mining
executive John Ridsdel, was executed by the group in April.
A Norwegian man and a Filipina are still being held.
Trudeau told reporters that "Canada holds the terrorist
group who took Mr. Hall hostage fully responsible for this
cold-blooded and senseless murder".
He said Sunday's attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando,
Florida, and the killing of Hall "serve as devastating reminders
for all of us, the vicious acts of hatred and violence cannot be
tolerated in any form".
Abu Sayyaf, based in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic
Philippines, is known for kidnapping, beheadings and extortion.
Security is precarious in the southern Philippines despite a
2014 peace pact between the government and the largest Muslim
rebel group that ended 45 years of conflict.
In Manila, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte's national
security adviser said Duterte's new government, which takes
charge on June 30, would "take a stronger action against
lawlessness in the south".
"We cannot allow this situation to continue, this should end
once and for all," Duterte's adviser Hermogenes Esperon told
Reuters.
Abu Sayyaf had initially demanded one billion pesos ($21.7
million) each for the detainees, but it lowered the ransom to
300 million pesos each early this year.
Preliminary intelligence reports in the Philippines
indicated Hall had been beheaded 10 minutes after a 3 p.m.
deadline lapsed in the mountains outside Jolo's Patikul town.
Philippine media had already quoted Abu Raami, a spokesman
for Abu Sayyaf, confirming the execution.
($1 = 46.1470 Philippine pesos)
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Where Canadian hostage was held by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines
http://tmsnrt.rs/1WMhTlb
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