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Friday, May 31, 2019, 18:00
Philippines: Dutch hostage held by militants killed in gunfight
By Reuters
Friday, May 31, 2019, 18:00 By Reuters

This handout file photo released by Tawi-Tawi police on Feb 3, 2012 shows Dutchman Ewold Horn in Tawi-Tawi prior to his abduction. (PHOTO / STRINGER / TAWI-TAWI POLICE / AFP)

MANILA/AMSTERDAM — A Dutch photographer held hostage by Islamic State-linked militants in the Philippines since 2012 was killed on Friday by his captors when he tried to escape during a firefight on a remote southern island, the military said. 

Ewold Horn, a wildlife photographer, was shot by his guards from the Abu Sayyaf group when he tried to flee during a clash between government troops and the militants, said Brigadier General Divino Rey Pabayo, commander of a Joint Task Force on Sulu island.  

Horn and a fellow photographer, Lorenzo Vinciguerra from Switzerland, were taken captive as they were sailing off an island called Tawi Tawi on a bird-watching trip more than seven years ago and later taken to Sulu. Vinciguerra escaped in 2014. 

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said he was "shocked by this terrible outcome," and that he would seek clarification from the Philippines on Horn's killing

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said the Netherlands had informed Horn's family. 

"I am shocked by this terrible outcome", Blok said, "I have been in contact with the family. I will ask my counterpart in the Philippines for further clarification." 

ALSO READ: Abu Sayyaf militants kill 2 Vietnamese hostages

Blok said he would seek clarification from the Philippines on Horn's killing.

Six militants were also killed in the firefight in the town of Patikul on Sulu, Pabayo said. The circumstances of the firefight were not immediately clear. 

Also killed during the clash on Friday was Mingayan Sahiron, the wife of Radullan Sahiron, a senior leader of the Abu Sayyaf, the military said. 

Radullan Sahiron is on a US State Department wanted list with a US$1 million reward for his capture since his involvement in the kidnapping of US tourists in 2001. 

He was believed to have escaped the clash, another military spokesman said. 

ALSO READ: Philippine authorities determined to root out terrorist groups

The Abu Sayyaf, a small but violent group in the Muslim south of the largely Catholic Philippines, has been known for extortion, kidnappings, beheadings and bombings, and has pledged allegiance to Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. 

It earlier pledged allegiance to the al-Qaida militant group.

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