The sailor Jürgen Kantner and his partner were murdered five years ago. Two suspected kidnappers have now been arrested. They are part of the notorious extremist organization Abu Sayyaf and are said to have tried to extort ransom money.
The suspected kidnappers of a German couple who were kidnapped in November 2016 and then killed have been arrested in the Philippines. The two Islamists are accused of kidnapping and killing a total of four foreigners, according to the authorities in the Southeast Asian country on Friday. They belonged to the notorious extremist organization Abu Sayyaf.
According to a military spokesman, the two men were handed over to the police on the island of Jolo in Sulu province. Those arrested, Almujer Yadah and Ben Quirino, are said to have kidnapped German sailor Jürgen Kantner and his partner in November 2016. The woman’s body was later found with a gunshot wound on board a yacht floating in the Sulu Sea.
Kantner was taken to Jolo and beheaded by his captors in early 2017. The hostage-takers had apparently tried to get a ransom. At the time, the federal government had confirmed that the 70-year-old Kantner had been “barbarously murdered” by Abu Sayyaf fighters. The then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) spoke of a “disgusting act”.
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.
At a wedding in Uzbekistan, the groom completely loses his composure. When his newlywed wife beats him in a wedding game, he freaks out and hits his bride on the head in front of all the wedding guests.
A heat wave is rolling towards Germany. Temperatures will rise at the weekend, in the south up to 38 degrees are possible on Saturday. But be careful, in some places thunderstorms with heavy rain are forecast. Meanwhile, a severe forest fire is raging in Brandenburg. Follow all important weather reports in our ticker.
