The Philippine terror cell that beheaded a Canadian hostage also plotted to kidnap boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao in a spectacular display of loyalty to the Islamic State faction, the country’s president has claimed.

Benigno Aquino revealed the kidnap plot by the Abu Sayyaf group as he vowed to hunt down the Muslim extremists who murdered John Ridsdel, a Canadian mining executive, on the jungle-carpeted southern island of Sulu.

The gang is demanding a £4.5 million ransom for two other Western captives - a Canadian tourist and a Norwegian resort manager – who were abducted from a luxury marina in Mindanao with Mr Ridsdel and a Filipina woman last September.

The president said that his sister Kris Aquino, a well-known television presenter, and Pacquiao, who is campaigning for a Senate seat in the May 9 national elections, were both targets of Abu Sayyaf kidnap plots.