MANILA -- Authorities have arrested a suspected terrorist accused of kidnapping two European bird-watchers last year.

Police spokesman Reuben Theodore Sindac said Thursday that the suspect, Haik Asgali, was arrested in Sulu province in a joint police and military operation.

Sindac said 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 bandits 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 said Asgali is a trusted operative of Abu Sayyaf leader Radullan Sahiron, one of the most wanted terrorist suspects in the country. (AP/Sunnex)