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Monday, August 13, 2007
Indonesians ‘involved in clashes’
MANILA -- Two top Indonesian terror suspects were involved in deadly clashes between Muslim insurgents and army soldiers in the southern Philippines last week, the military chief said Sunday.
The Philippine military’s chief of staff, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, said the two – Umar Patek and Dulmatin – provided unspecified help to Abu Sayyaf militants and other insurgents who killed 25 soldiers Thursday in a road ambush and subsequent fighting on the southern island of Jolo. Dulmatin goes by a single name.
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“We have a report that they (Patek and Dulmatin) were in the encounters,” Esperon told reporters. He did not elaborate.
The two Indonesians would be among the insurgents troops hunt for in the next few days, he said.
Dulmatin and Patek have reportedly been given sanctuary in Jolo by Abu Sayyaf commanders Radulan Sahiron and Umbra Jumdail, whose forces, along with Moro National Liberation Front guerrillas, killed the 25 soldiers.
Jumdail’s son and a key Sahiron aide were among those killed in Thursday’s clashes in the Maimbung township on Jolo, Esperon said.
The two Indonesians, believed to be key operatives of the Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, have long been hunted by US, Philippine, and Indonesian authorities for allegedly helping mastermind the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people.
They are believed to have fled in 2003 to Mindanao, where they provided bomb-making and religious training and helped plot attacks with local militants, according to the military.
Washington has offered a $10 million reward for Dulmatin’s capture and $1 million for Patek’s. (AP)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pampanga. (August 13, 2007 issue)
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