UK, Canada caution citizens vs traveling in Visayas, Mindanao due to terrorism threat

Now its Canada and the United Kingdom’s turn to issue their respective travel advisories to their citizens advising them to exercise a “high degree of caution” while in the Philippines due to a “high threat of terrorism” in Visayas and Mindanao. (Photo: dbgg1979/Flickr)

MANILA—Now its Canada and the United Kingdom’s turn to issue their respective travel advisories to their citizens advising them to exercise a “high degree of caution” while in the Philippines due to a “high threat of terrorism” in Visayas and Mindanao.

Early in the week, the United States and Australia issued their respective travel warnings to their citizens after they gathered intelligence reports that unidentified armed group are planning to kidnap them.

The Canadian government cited the April 9 advisory from the United States Embassy in Manila warning Americans against traveling to Central Visayas, including the tourist-famous Bohol and Cebu provinces, due to “unsubstantiated yet credible information” on kidnap-for-ransom threats from terror groups.

On Tuesday, a firefight that lasted up to midnight and left at least nine dead ensued between government forces and suspected Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Barangay Napo in Inabanga, Bohol.