Philippine security forces have recovered the headless body of Canadian citizen Robert Hall, who was held captive by jihadist group Abu Sayyaf and beheaded in June after the ransom deadline passed.
The Inquirer newspaper reported on Sunday that a group villagers chanced upon the body around midday on Saturday in an area of the Talipao municipality on Jolo island, located some 960 kilometres south of Manila.
Hall's head was found near the Jolo cathedral on June 13.
On April 25, Abu Sayyaf killed another Canadian, John Ridsdel, in the same way and on the same island when their ransom demand was not met.
Abu Sayyaf, formed in 1991 by a group of former fighters in the Afghan war against the Soviet Union, had abducted Hall, Ridsdel, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and the Filipina Marites Flor on September 21, 2015 from a hotel complex on Samal island in southeastern Philippines.
Flor, Hall's girlfriend, was freed by the group on June 24 but Sekkingstad is still being held captive by them.
In April, the jihadist group managed to get $US2 million in ransom to release 14 Indonesian fishermen, and $US4.4 million more in exchange for releasing four Malaysians the following month.
Abu Sayyaf, which pledges allegiance to the Islamic State, is said to be behind numerous kidnappings - with which it finances its activities - and some of the bloodiest attacks in the Philippines.
