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Friday, November 04, 2005
Military bares new plot to bomb metro
MANILA -- The group of Hilarion Santos, the arrested leader of the alleged terrorist group Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM), is planning to carry out fresh bomb attacks in Metro Manila in retaliation for his arrest, the military said Thursday.
Rear Admiral Tirso Danga, deputy military chief of staff for intelligence, said Dawud, the younger brother of Santos, has allegedly been working hard to implement the attacks.
Danga said they have yet to locate Dawud as of Thursday afternoon, but they received reports he is in constant contact with RSM members. Danga said Dawud was going around and talking to the would-be bombers in Metro Manila.
The military official did not say how many bombers were in the metro already.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Chief Vidal Querol said he has placed the entire Metro Manila police force on alert against possible retaliatory strikes by the RSM.
Director Querol appealed to the people to help the police stop the terrorists.
Prior to his brother's arrest, Dawud was captured by intelligence agents of the military in Fairview, Quezon City for alleged possession of 600 kilos of explosives last March but he posted bail of P200,000 allegedly provided by broadcast journalist Julius Babao.
ABS-CBN has denied the accusation but said Babao will undergo investigation by the network's management. Babao has also voluntarily taken a leave of absence from his anchoring duties in TV Patrol.
The military said Dawud's group was about to use the explosives to blow up a club in Malate, Manila last Holy Week.
An intelligence report revealed that the Southeast Asian regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) funded the RSM's foiled Lenten bombing, which it envisioned to be bigger in magnitude compared to the 2002 Bali bombings.
The military has been linking the Santos brothers and their group to the Valentine's Day bombing that killed eight people and injured a hundred others and to the bombing of a passenger ferry off Bataan last year that claimed over a hundred lives.
Hilarion, along with eight others, were arrested during a raid at his safe house in Zamboanga City last week on the strength of an arrest warrant issued for charges of kidnapping and serious illegal detention filed against them.
Hilarion revealed that bombings in Metro Manila and other parts of the country would go on despite his arrest. He also said the past bomb attacks were part of the Muslims' war against the government to show their rage against the continued denial of their longstanding desire to make Mindanao a separate state. (JFF/Sunnex)
(November 4, 2005 issue)
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