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Saturday, October 15, 2005
Moro rebels warn of Jemaah, Sayyaf attacks
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Friday warned that the Jemaah Islamiya and Abu Sayyaf may strike on civilian targets at anytime in the southern Philippines, where security and rebel forces have joined together to hunt down members of the two terrorist groups tied to al-Qaeda.
The MILF said the two groups remain the biggest threat to the Philippines and terrorists could be planning to mount an attack.
It said the Jemaah Islamiya and the Abu Sayyaf have fragmented into smaller groups and are believed to be hiding in Mindanao.
"Although they are fragmented, they remain the biggest threat to the safety of everybody. There are strong possibilities that the terrorists may strike at civilian targets any time," MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said.
"We can't exactly tell when or where, but we have alerted our forces to intensify the hunt for Jemaah Islamiya and Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Mindanao."
The MILF, the country's largest Muslim separatist rebel group, is currently negotiating peace with Manila. It forged an agreement last year that paved the way for rebel forces to help government hunt down terrorists and criminal elements in areas where the MILF is actively operating.
The MILF shares intelligence information about the Jemaah Islamiya and the Abu Sayyaf with the military through the ad-hoc joint action group.
International terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna said the Jemaah Islamiya is allegedly receiving funding from the al-Qaeda and unidentified financiers in Saudi Arabia.
The Jemaah Islamiya is also receiving arms, munitions and explosives from their cells in the southern Philippines and has active camps in the region, said Gunaratna, head of terrorism research, Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore.
"JI is still training in the southern Philippines. JI camps are still active. JI continues to receive arms, munitions and explosives from their cells in the southern Philippines."
JI continues to receive funding from al-Qaeda and financiers in Saudi Arabia, Gunaratna said in a recent interview by the online news ninemsn in Singapore.
He did not identify the al-Qaeda and the Saudi financiers, nor how they were channeling funds to the Jemaah Islamiya.
Gunaratna also warned that JI becomes active during the "bombing season" usually from August to about December.
"When I was asked...about the state of health of JI, I said that JI will attack. JI is still capable. And I believe that JI has suffered, but JI still retains significant infrastructure to mount attacks, not only in Indonesia but also in the Philippines and in some of the neighboring countries," he said.
Philippine authorities said Friday at least 33 Jemaah Islamiya members are believed to be hiding in Mindanao and were training local recruits.
The Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for a string of attacks in the Philippines and Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, a blast at Jakarta's J.W. Marriott hotel the following year that left a dozen people dead, and the Australian embassy bombing also in Jakarta that killed 10.
Three recent suicide bombings in Bali that killed more than 2 dozen people were also blamed on the Jemaah Islamiya, an affiliate of the al-Qaeda.
The Philippines is dangerously fast becoming a haven for terrorists.
A series of attacks and assassinations was planned in the Philippines by the Pakistan-born al-Qaeda member Ramzi Yousef, who had led the bomb attack on the World Trade Center in New York in February 1993.
Yousef came close to destroying a Philippine Airlines flight from Manila to Tokyo with a chemical bomb in November 1994. He also was involved in planning a series of bombings and assassinations of US President Bill Clinton and Pope John Paul in Manila, but his plans were uncovered after bomb components set off a fire in his Manila apartment in February 1995.
An al-Qaeda-trained Indonesian Jemaah Islamiya bomb-maker, Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, operated extensively in the Philippines and organized a series of five bombings in Manila in December 2000, which killed 22 and injured over 100.
Since then, dozens of foreigners with links to either the al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya have been arrested in the southern Philippines with the help of the United States.
But despite this, two powerful bombs were detonated by the Abu Sayyaf group in Zamboanga City, wounding at least 26 people in July. And a ferry was also bombed in August, killing three passengers and wounding more than 3 dozen people.
The United States labeled the Abu Sayyaf group as a foreign terrorist organization.
It also offered as much as $5 million bounty for the capture of known Abu Sayyaf leaders, including its chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, for the killing of two kidnapped US citizens in 2002 in the southern Philippines. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(October 15, 2005 issue)
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