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Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Terror suspect admits role in Manila blasts
By Lizanilla Amarga
CAGAYAN DE ORO -- A Filipino arrested with an Egyptian missionary at the Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro City confessed Monday that he helped plan the series of deadly bombings that killed 22 people in Manila on December 2000, police said.
PNP Chief Hermogenes Ebdane said Saiffulah Yunos, alias Muklis Yunos, did not only admit to being behind the Rizal Day bombing during their interrogation but also confessed to being a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
"He is with the MILF's special operations group which is tasked to stage terrorist attacks," he said.
Yunos was nabbed in May 25 at 12:45 p.m. while attempting to board a flight to Manila with the help of Egyptian missionary Diaa Mahmoud Algabri.
Yunos wrapped his face in bandages supposedly to conceal his identity but it later proved to be the very thing that gave him away when airport authorities became suspicious.
His arrest came a day before President Arroyo was supposed to hold a command conference in Camp Evangelista, Barangay Patag last May 26. The activity was later cancelled.
Ebdane said Yunos's confession had also been "validated" by convicted Indonesian terrorist Fathur Rohman al-Ghozie, who is serving a 10-year jail sentence in the Philippines for illegal possession of explosives.
In a written deposition to the police last year, Al-Ghozie said Yunos bought the explosives that were used for the bombings.
Confessed
"Arrested bombing suspect Saifullah Yunos, a.k.a. Mukhlis Yunos, has confessed to his role in the Rizal Day bombing in 2000," Ebdane told a news conference with President Gloria Arroyo at the national police headquarters in northern Manila.
Ebdane said they are now "validating" the information from Yunos's confessions to isolate the terrorists from the ranks of the MILF.
He added that Yunos could have possibly been trained in Afghanistan with Hambali, an Indonesian also known as Riduan Isamuddin who is believed to be a senior member of Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah and the Al-Qaeda.
Al-Ghozie, meanwhile, is said to be an explosives expert of the JI who once trained in a MILF camp in the southern Philippines. The JI was blamed for the October 2002 bombings that left more than 200 dead in Bali, Indonesia.
"The connection we have is that he was a classmate of Hambali in training in Afghanistan. And he worked with al-Ghozie in the planning of the bombing on December 30," Ebdane said, adding that investigators were also trying to check Yunos's possible involvement in a spate of bombings that hit Catholic churches in Indonesia also in 2000.
Ebdane said intelligence officials from Singapore, United States and Australia -- many of whose citizens died in Bali -- have asked the Philippines access to Yunos.
"We are coordinating closely with foreign embassies and other intelligence agencies," he said.
Yunos was shown to the press for the first time Monday, handcuffed and clad in orange prison uniform and guarded by two police officers. He was not allowed to speak.
Big help
Local Government Secretary Joey Lina said Yunos's confession is going to be a big help to the police and the military.
"I believe we have just dealt the terrorist group a big blow," he told Sun.Star Monday night.
Lina said Yunos's admission "confirmed" earlier intelligence reports that there are well-trained terrorists from Afghanistan who are here in the country.
These terrorists have links to foreign terror groups like the Jemaah Islamiyah and even the al-Qaeda of Osama Bin Laden, primary suspect of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the US.
"Because of the revelations, the PNP now has a wealth of information necessary in going after and arresting these terrorists," he stressed.
According to Lina, police are now hunting down six other members of the MILF special operations group.
Already, the military had rained bombs on a village in Butig, Lanao del Sur amid reports that Yunos's comrades were hiding there, said 4th Infantry Division spokesman Johnny Macanas.
He said they have killed countless of MILF guerillas linked to Yunos that day.
Not MILF
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu, however, denied that Yunos is a member of the rebel group.
"Palaging nandoon yon sa aming camp (He was always in our camp) as he wanted to be an MILF member but he wasn't accepted," he said.
Kabalu said MILF deputy for military affairs Al Hadj Murad Ebrahim knew that Yunos was a bomb expert trained in Afghanistan.
"It was already explained in 2001 by Brother Murad that Muklis Yunos is not an MILF but still they are forcing him on us...they want to pin us down," he said.
Asked if the man nabbed with the Egyptian missionary last month was Yunos, Kabalu said: "We are not interested as he is not our member."
If they suspect him to be an MILF member, Kabalu said Yunos should be given due process by being brought to court, proven guilty, and then penalized. "But balita namin binugbog na nga (But our sources revealed that he was beaten up)," he said.
Yunos was shown to the press for the first time Monday, clad in orange prison uniform and guarded by two police officers. He was not allowed to speak.
Lina though said Yunos was not harmed during the whole length of his interrogation in the hands of the police. With AFP
(June 10, 2003 issue)
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