Philippines Arrest Key Abu Sayyaf Leader

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2014-06-11

Philippine police have arrested a man described by the United States as a "key leader and financier" in the Abu Sayyaf militant group.

Police say they arrested Khair Mundos in a Manila suburb early Wednesday, bringing an end to a manhunt that had lasted for over seven years.

The U.S. had offered a $500,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Mundos, saying he was a threat to U.S. and Filipino citizens.

Mundos was arrested in May 2004 and confessed to arranging the transfer of funds from al-Qaida to Abu Sayyaf. He escaped from jail in 2007.

Islamist Abu Sayyaf fighters are blamed for a series of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.

The group says it is fighting to establish an Islamic theocracy in the southern Philippines, which is home to several other Islamist militant groups.

Source: Voice of America