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Monday, March 21, 2005
Police guard malls, train stations against Abu bomb plot (2:21 p.m.)
MANILA -- Soldiers and police will patrol the different malls, churches and other crowded places this week to thwart reported bombing plots by Muslim militants during the Easter holiday, officials said Monday.
The tight security measures were put in place after national police chief Arturo Lomibao announced Friday that four to five members of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group and an operative from the allied regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah were in metropolitan Manila to carry out bombings.
The Abu Sayyaf has threatened to avenge the deaths of 23 inmates who were killed when police stormed a Manila prison last week to quell a botched jailbreak. Among them were three prominent guerrilla commanders.
"I would not say this is very serious, but this is a real threat because this has been done in the past. So they can do it anytime that they want," military chief Gen. Efren Abu told reporters.
Last month, the Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility for almost-simultaneous bombings in Manila and two other cities that killed eight and wounded more than 100 people, calling them retaliation for a military offensive against rebels in the south.
The group also was behind the country's worst terrorist attack, a ferry bombing that killed 116 people last year.
As of Monday, military units in Manila went on the highest state of alert, Abu said, adding that he ordered air force members and marines to assist police in patrolling shopping malls, churches and train stations.
Armed coast guard sailors took their boats to Manila Bay near the capital, and police with bomb-sniffing dogs searched passengers' luggage.
Sea marshals were deployed on ferries, the most popular means of transport this holiday season, when hundreds of thousands of Filipinos travel to their home provinces and holiday resorts.
The four-day Easter holiday in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines begins Thursday, but government workers - except for the military, police and emergency personnel - will start leaving offices as early as Wednesday. (AP) |
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