Militants ask $21.4m for each of 4 hostages

A small but violent al-Qaida-linked Islamist group in the Philippines has demanded 1 billion pesos ($21.4 million) each for three men and a woman captured at a beach resort in September, one of the victims said in a video.

The men, two Canadians and a Norwegian, and the Filipino woman were shown in a video clip posted on Twitter crouching on the ground with masked men wielding machetes standing over them and threatening to kill them.

"I appeal to the Canadian prime minister and the people of Canada, please pay this ransom as soon as possible or our lives are in great danger," said a bearded man who identified himself as John Ridsdel, a mining consultant from Canada.