What Is Abu Sayyaf? ISIS Video Shows Beheading Of German Hostage Jurgen Kantner

A group affiliated with the Islamic State in the Philippines posted a video Monday of a 70-year-old German hostage who appeared to have been beheaded after his ransom deadline had expired. The man was held captive for three months.

The SITE monitoring group said the video was posted by the Abu Sayyaf militant group on its Telegram social media account after the ransom request for about $600,000 expired Sunday, the Washington Post reported. The video showed Jurgen Kantner surrounded by armed men as a knife was held to his neck. Kantner was abducted from his yacht in the Philippines on November 2008.

The group promised to kill Kantner if they did not get the ransom money by Sunday at 9 a.m. Kantner's wife Sabine Merz, 59, was also killed by the militants. Her body was found on her husband's yacht, according to BBC News.

“We grieve as we strongly condemn the barbaric beheading of yet another kidnap victim,” said Jesus Dureza, an adviser to Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte. "Terrorism has no place in a country like ours and we as a people must confront violent extremism every time it rears its ugly head. There must be a stop to this killing of the innocent and the helpless."

Dureza said everything was done to save Kantner's life. "Up to the last moment, many sectors, including the armed forces, exhausted all efforts to save his life. We all tried our best but to no avail," he said.

Abu Sayyaf, a small violent jihadist group in the southern Philippines, is notorious for its beheadings, kidnappings and bombings. The group holds a vast amount of hostages, and some have been released for ransoms. It counts roughly 300 members and seeks to create an independent Islamic state on the southern island of Mindanao.

Kantner had previously survived an abduction off Somalia in 2008. After he was rescued, he returned to Somaliland to collect his yacht, saying: "My boat is my life and I don't want to lose her... I don't care about pirates and governments."