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Agence France-Presse

A Norwegian and three Indonesian seamen held hostage in the southern Philippines were turned over to a government envoy on Sunday 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.
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.

John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, the two Canadians seized with Sekkingstad, were beheaded after a ransom demand of about 300 million pesos ($6.5 million) was not met. Ridsdel was murdered in April and Hall in June.
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 “the Norwegian government does not pay ransom in this case or any other case”.
However a spokesman for the Abu Sayyaf was quoted in a local newspaper on Sunday as saying the group received 30 million pesos (about $625,000) for the Norwegian.

The Abu Sayyaf is a loose network of militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.
It is based in remote Muslim-populated southern islands in the mainly Catholic Philippines, and has earned millions of dollars in ransom from kidnappings - often targeting foreigners.
While its leaders have in recent years pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, analysts say the Abu Sayyaf is mainly focused on a lucrative kidnapping business rather than religious ideology.
The group, which is blamed for the worst terror attacks in Philippine history and is listed by the United States as a terrorist organisation, has been the target of a military operation since August.


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Islamic militancy

Norwegian hostage savours freedom after year of captivity with militants who beheaded two other foreigners

Released Norwegian hostage Kjartan Sekkingstad, front row left, poses with Moro National Liberation Front Chairman Nur Misuari, front row second right, after being turned over by ransom-seeking Abu Sayyaf extremists in Indanan township on Jolo island in southern Philippines. Photo: AP

FILE - In this March 5, 2013 file photo, Moro National Liberation Front chairman Nur Misuari gestures during a press conference in suburban Taguig, south of Manila, Philippines. Abu Sayyaf extremists on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016, freed a Norwegian man kidnapped a year ago in the southern Philippines along with two Canadians who were later beheaded and a Filipino woman who has been released by the ransom-seeking militants, officials said. Kjartan Sekkingstad was freed in Patikul town in Sulu province and was eventually secured by rebels from the larger Moro National Liberation Front, which has a signed a peace deal with the government and helped negotiate his release, officials said. Sekkingstad, held in jungle captivity since being kidnapped last September, was to stay overnight at the house of Misuari in Sulu and then meet with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday, said Jesus Dureza, who advises the president on peace talks with insurgent groups. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)

epa05362967 An image made available on 14 June 2016 shows a member of the Philippine National Police Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) holding a plastic bag containing a recovered decapitated human head in the town of Jolo, Sulu island, Philippines, 13 June 2016. A Filipino Philippine Islamist extremist group Abu Sayyaf has killed Canadian hostage Robert Hall, who was abducted from a seaside resort in the southern Philippines in September, according to Filemon Tan Junior, spokesman of Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom). Hall, the second Canadian captive was apparently executed in the same mountainous jungle hideout in Sulu Island as fellow Calgarian, John Ridsdel, who was decapitated in late April. EPA/BEN HAJAN

Norwegian national Kjartan Sekkingstad and Canadian hostage Robert Hall who was beheaded by his captors this year

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Abu Sayyaf claims it was paid 30 million pesos (about $625,000) for the release of the Norwegian


Norwegian hostage savours freedom after year of captivity with militants who beheaded two other foreigners

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Abu Sayyaf claims it was paid 30 million pesos (about $625,000) for the release of the Norwegian

Abu Sayyaf claims it was paid 30 million pesos (about $625,000) for the release of the Norwegian