An Islamic Terror Gang Had Plans to Kidnap Manny Pacquiao

The ISIS-affiliated group has previously beheaded a Canadian tourist.

A Filipino terror group with a hard-on for ISIS has hatched a plot to kidnap Manny Pacquiao as a display of allegiance and to get some cash, the country’s President said Wednesday. President Benigno Aquino III, whose term ends in June, promised to spend the next two months ensuring that the terror group Abu Sayyaf is “at the very least … a very seriously degraded problem” for the boxing superstar and rising Filipino politician.

Abu Sayyaf is in the news this week after beheading a Canadian tourist snatched from a resort last September. John Ridsdel is believe to have been executed on Monday after a ransom deadline was not met. Five hours after the deadline passed, two men on a motorcycle dropped his head, wrapped in a plastic bag, into the center of a remote island town.

Ridsdel’s killing has increased the urgency for Philippine military forces to rescue the other hostages. Abu Sayyaf is said to have at least 22 foreign captives. But the military is facing a difficult task as it faces down a force of 400 militants who are hiding out in the jungle.

President Aquino believes the time might be right to take out Abu Sayyaf though, as its members are in one place watching over the remaining captives. “Smashing these forces is within our grasp,” he said. Then he added, “Casualties are to be expected.”