(Eagle News) –Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana assured the family of the slain Jurgen Kantner on Thursday that the military was going after the “animals” who beheaded him “with the full force of the law.”
In his statement, Lorenzana refused to name the Abu Sayyaf as the one responsible for the beheading of the German national in Indanan, Sulu, saying they were merely “bandits whose name no longer deserves to be mentioned.”
“We strongly denounce these… heinous crimes against humanity committed by a group who have made it their business to terrorize and take the lives of innocent people,” Lorenzana said.
He said the terrorist group would “feel the wrath of the entire Filipino nation through the might of its Armed Forces.”
“We are deeply saddened by the pain that Mr. (Jurgen) Kantner suffered at the hands of the bandits whose name no longer deserves to be mentioned…We cannot even begin to imagine the anguish and tried they are going through,” he said.
Kantner and his partner Sabine Merz were abducted in November 2016 as they were cruising Philippine waters on board their yacht.
Merz was shot dead after she reportedly tried to fight off the militants.
Kantner was beheaded after the deadline to pay a ransom of $600,000 in exchange for his release lapsed on Monday.
