Abu Sayyaf threatens to behead foreign hostages if ransom demands are not met

'If the demand is not met we will be executed like our friend John was a few days ago'.

Abu Sayyaf militant group has issued a fresh warning threatening to kill foreign hostages it holds in southern Philippines.

Three hostages from Canada, Norway and the Philippines are seen appealing for help in a video uploaded on YouTube, the SITE intelligence group, which monitors jihadist media, said.

The video appeared more than three weeks after the Islamic militants beheaded a Canadian hostage.

A Canadian named Robert Hall is seen saying on video: "To the Philippine government: Please stop shooting at us and trying to kill us. These guys are going to do a good job of that." Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and Marites Flor, Hall's Filipina girlfriend, also plead with both the governments.

Last month, Abu Sayyaf executed Canadian hostage John Ridsdel after an April 25 ransom deadline expired.

The video shows the hostages sitting on the ground in a place which appeared to be a coconut plantation, with six gunmen standing behind them. The Norwegian said: "If the demand is not met we will be executed like our friend John was a few days ago".

One of the gunmen warns Manila to heed the "lesson" of Ridsdel's killing and to avoid further delays in the negotiations.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino has vowed to "neutralise" the gunmen even as the government remained determined that it will not negotiate with any terrorist organization.

Aquino also said that the three hostages were being held on the Abu Sayyaf stronghold of Jolo Island, located more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) south of Manila.

Not only Philippines, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also said that the government would not negotiate with the kidnappers, especially after Ridsdel's murder.

Last year in September, Ridsdel and the three other people were kidnapped from a resort in the southern Philippines. The Philippine militant group demanded millions of dollars in ransom.

According to the reports, the gunmen freed 10 Indonesian sailors whom they had abducted at sea. But they are still holding four Malaysian and four other Indonesian sailors, as well as a Dutch birdwatcher whom they had abducted in 2012.

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