A Norwegian man has been freed a year after he was kidnapped from a yacht club in the southern Philippines and held in captivity in the jungle by Islamic militants while two of his fellow hostages were beheaded.
Kjartan Sekkingstad, who was taken by the Abu Sayyaf terror group which is allied to Islamic State, described how the backpack he was wearing was hit by a bullet during one of more than a dozen clashes between the army and his kidnappers in Sulu province. He was kidnapped from a yacht club he helped manage near the city of Davao in September 2015 and released on Saturday.
Mr Sekkingstad, who appeared with a full beard and was noticeably thin, thanked his “Filipino family, family in Norway