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Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Terror group plans to disrupt Asean summit in Cebu: military (3:45 p.m.)
MANILA -- Security officials said the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) is among the groups threatening to sow terror during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Cebu in December.
Armed Forces public information office chief Bartolome Bacarro however said he believed the elaborate security preparations of the police and military for the international conference would be enough to preempt and stop the plot.
"I would believe that the security preparations in place have considered that as a threat," Bacarro told a press conference in Camp Aguinaldo, referring to the regional terror network JI, whose top terror operatives are said to be in the country training local insurgents belonging to the Abu Sayyaf group.
Military intelligence officials earlier revealed that JI provided the funds in the bombing of a passenger ferry off Manila Bay in 2004 that left over a hundred people dead and in the 2005 Valentine's Day bombings in Makati, General Santos, and Davao cities that resulted in the killing of eight people and wounding of several others.
Around 30 to 40 JI operatives are believed to be operating in the country, including Dulmatin and Omar Patek, who are being pursued by government forces in the outskirts of Sulu. Dulmatin and Patek are allegedly in the company of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani.
Dulmatin and Patek, who each carries a US$10 million and a US$1 million reward for their neutralization, respectively, are being blamed for the October 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia that claimed 200 lives.
"Our primary concern is to ensure that nothing will happen and that Asean summit will push through without any hitch. As to the specifics (of security preparations), I cannot say, including how many troops will be involved but definitely, great amount effort will be focused on that," Bacarro said. (VR/Sunnex) |
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