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Arrest in the Philippines: Suspected kidnappers (middle) of a German couple
Photo: NICKEE BUTLANGAN / AFP
Two suspected kidnappers of a German couple who were kidnapped and then killed in 2016 have been arrested in the Philippines.
The two Islamists are accused of kidnapping and killing four foreigners, according to the authorities in the Southeast Asian country.
According to a military spokesman, the two men were handed over to the police on the island of Jolo in Sulu province.
They belonged to the extremist organization Abu Sayyaf.
Those arrested are said to have kidnapped the German sailor Jürgen Kantner and his partner Sabine Merz in November 2016.
The woman's body was later found with a gunshot wound on board a yacht floating in the Sulu Sea.
"Barbarically murdered"
Kantner was taken to Jolo and beheaded by his captors in early 2017.
The hostage-takers had apparently tried to extort a ransom.
The federal government confirmed at the time that the 70-year-old had been "barbarously murdered" by Abu Sayyaf fighters.
The then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) spoke of a “disgusting act”.
The couple had previously been kidnapped in 2008 - and then held by Somali pirates for several weeks.
Abu Sayyaf is a group of Muslim rebels, some of whom work with the jihadist militia Islamic State (IS).
Over the past three decades, Abu Sayyaf has carried out multiple bombings and extorted millions from kidnappings.
Abu Sayyaf members arrested on Friday are also believed to be responsible for the murders of Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, who were abducted from a tourist resort in September 2015 along with Hall's Filipino girlfriend and a Norwegian man.
The kidnappers killed Ridsdel and Hall but released the Filipino woman and the Norwegian.
wit/AFP
