US, Kuwait help Philippines capture 2 with suspected IS ties

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine officials say U.S. and Kuwaiti security officials have helped them identify and arrest a Middle Eastern couple with suspected links to the Islamic State group and who may have the capability to launch bomb attacks.

Military officials said Friday army intelligence agents, along with police and immigration authorities, arrested Hussein Aldhafiri and Rahaf Zina Dhafiri late last month in an upscale commercial district in Taguig city in metropolitan Manila. The two handcuffed suspects were presented to reporters late Thursday.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II says the arrests were made possible by the U.S. and Kuwaiti information and were not disclosed while local authorities tried to identify their local contacts to avoid the risk that their capture might prompt their accomplices to advance any planned attack.