Philippine police arrest Abu Sayyaf militant

Manila: Philippine authorities have arrested a suspected Muslim militant accusing of kidnapping two European bird-watchers last year. Police spokesman Reuben Theodore Sindac said today that the suspect, Haik Asgali, was arrested in Sulu province in a joint police and military operation. Sindac says Asgali`s team kidnapped Dutch Ewold Horn and Swiss Lorenzo Vinciguerra while they were on a bird-watching trip in southern Tawi Tawi province in February 2012. The militants from the Abu Sayyaf group are holding for ransom more than a dozen captives. US-backed military offensives have crippled the group in recent years but it remains a key security threat.   Sindac says Asgali is a trusted operative of Abu Sayyaf leader Radullan Sahiron, one of the most wanted terrorist suspects in the country.