Malaysia ‘sickened’ by citizen’s beheading in Philippines

He and a Malaysian woman were abducted in May from a Chinese seafood restaurant in a coastal town in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah, on Borneo island, and taken to Jolo.

“The decapitation of Then will definitely lead to a further crackdown on terrorism as the Abu Sayyaf group has strong allegiance to the Islamic State”, Mohd Kamarulnizam Abdullah, a professor specializing in political violence at Universiti Utara Malaysia, said by phone.

“These are very separate from the Apec, but we don’t disregard these events”, he said.

The Abu Sayyaf militants upped the ransom to 80 million pesos (RM7.4 million), despite initially agreeing to free both Then and restaurant manager Thien Yoke Fun for 30 million pesos (RM2.7 million), according to the English language daily.

Expressing his sympathies to Then’s family and friends, the prime minister said authorities will act against the militants to ensure they are brought to justice.

On Tuesday, the Al-Qaeda-linked group beheaded Bernard Then after ransom negotiations for his release failed.

In MANILA, a senior Philippine military official claimed Then was beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf because its ransom demands were not met.

Sources from the military and social workers in the Philippines are indicating that the 39-year-old Sarawakian electrical engineer was killed by the Abu Sayyaf gunmen who were being pursued by Philippine military in the Butaran Hill area around Indanan village in Jolo island.

He said military and police authorities had received news about “the inhuman, barbaric and brutal” beheading.

Abu Sayyaf has used kidnap for ransom for years as a way of raising funds to support its insurgency.

Brigadier-General Alan Arrojado, commander of the Joint Task Group Sulu, said the beheading occurred as the military launched an artillery attack on the hostage-takers’ position in Jolo.

The killing is unusual for the Abu Sayyaf, which has usually preferred to hold their foreign captives for lengthy periods, sometimes years, in exchange for ransom money.

Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf – armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles – has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortions in a self-determined fight for an independent Islamic province in the Philippines.

If reports of the manner of his murder are true, Then will be the second foreigner to have been beheaded by the group.