Police in the Philippines say they have arrested a leading figure in the Islamist Abu Sayyaf movement. Mujibar Alih Amon was arrested last weekend on the southern island of Jolo, an Abu Sayyaf stronghold. He had been sought in connection with a series of kidnappings and murders.

This latest arrest is the third in a string of successes for the Philippine authorities in their struggle against Abu Sayyaf. During the same weekend another high-ranking leader of the movement, Albader Parad, was killed in a gun battle with four other members on Jolo. Last week, police arrested another Abu Sayyaf suspect in the Philippine capital Manila.
 
Abu Sayyaf, which is listed by the United States as a terrorist organisation, is fighting for an independent Muslim state in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines.