Four people were kidnapped by boat from a the Holiday Oceanview resort in the Philippines in the late afternoon on Monday. Police sources say that the attack appeared to have been targettted rather than random. The Norwegian was named as the manager of the resort, Kjartan Sekkingstad. The Candians were named as John Ridsel and Robert Hall. The local woman was not named. Islamist separatist movements have operated in the Philippines for decades. Since the 1990s they have staged kidnappings, predominantly of Western tourists, who fetch good ransoms. The kidnapping took place on the island of Mindanoa, where Muslim insurgencies have been focused in the past, with the goal of creating an independent Muslim state there. Since 1972 the conflict has killed at least 120,000 people, mostly civilians and displaced many more. Last year the latest in a series of peace agreements was signed with the largest Islamist terrorist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), with the government agreeing to a certain amount of self rule in the newly created Autonomous Region of Bangsamoro.
