Suspected kidnapper arrested in Philippines

Philippine police and military have arrested a suspected Muslim militant accused of kidnapping two European bird-watchers in 2012, The Associated Press reports. Jail / Flickrjail Police and military conducted a joint operation on late Wednesday and arrested the suspect, Haik Asgali, in Sulu province, according to police spokesman Reuben Theodore Sindac. Dutch Ewold Horn and his Swiss friend, Lorenzo Vinciguerra, were kidnapped by Asgali's Abu Sayyaf organization. Horn and Vinciguerra were on a bird-watching trip in southern Tawi Tawi province in February 2012. The Abu Sayyaf organization is holding Horn and Vinciguerra for ransom more than a dozen captives. According to police spokesman, Asgali is an operative of Abu Sayyaf leader Radullan Sahiron, one of the most wanted terrorist suspects in the Philippines. Horn, 52, is from Termunten in Groningen. Horn's wife told a newspaper after the kidnapping that her husband never considered the possibility of being kidnapped. "And I myself have over the years been taught to be worried about long distance travel," she said. The Abu Sayyaf is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States.