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Monday, October 15, 2007
Gov’t fears terror attack as Sayyaf receives new funds
MANILA -- Abu Sayyaf militants received funds from an unidentified donor after posting an Internet video of the group's founders appealing for financial support, the Philippines' main intelligence agency said.
The al-Qaida-linked group may use the money to finance attacks, and the discovery led intelligence officials to recommend maintaining a high-level alert for October in the southern Mindanao region, said the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Nica).
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The Abu Sayyaf and at least three other militant groups have waged a bloody rebellion for years in the area.
The information on the new funds was contained in a Nica report, portions of which were viewed Sunday by reporters.
"There was a report of new money received by the ASG (Abu Sayyaf group) financial network," said the document sent to the National Security Council, which advises President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on security concerns. "The money arrived after the ASG group uploaded videos on the Internet."
It was not clear from the Nica report how much money was received, when it arrived, or who sent it.
In the past, supporters in the Middle East have been known to send money to the Abu Sayyaf.
In a video titled "The Filipino Lions are Coming," footage showed Abu Sayyaf founder Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani and his younger brother and successor, Khadaffy Janjalani, appealing in Arabic for material and financial support.
Khadaffy Janjalani was killed in September in fighting against US-backed government troops on southern Jolo Island. Abdurajak was killed in a clash with Philippine police in 1998.
The military says the Abu Sayyaf - which has more than 300 gunmen, mostly on the southern islands of Basilan and Jolo – may have lost much of its financial support network following the deaths of the younger Janjalani and his presumed successor, Abu Sulaiman, in separate clashes earlier this year. Both were believed to have had many contacts in the Middle East.
Abdurajak Janjalani fought with the mujahedeen against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan during the 1980s. He later returned home and organized the Abu Sayyaf, or Bearer of the Sword, Abdurajak's nom de guerre.
War exercises
Meanwhile, more than 3,500 US and Philippine Marines will launch a two-week war exercise in the northern Philippines this week, with maneuvers including mock beach and artillery assaults, officials said Sunday.
The annual exercises begin on Tuesday and involve combat maneuvers on a Philippine Marine base, an Army Special Forces camp and an Air Force gunnery area on northern Luzon island, local navy spokesman Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan said.
He said no exercises were scheduled in the southern Mindanao region, where a small US military contingent has separately provided counterterrorism training and weapons to troops battling al-Qaida-linked militants since 2002.
The Philippines holds several military exercises each year with the US its longtime ally, under a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty and two other security accords.
A US Embassy statement said American Marines from Okinawa in Japan and US sailors from the Essex Expeditionary Strike Group will join in the ground, air and naval drills - called Talon Vision and Amphibious Landing Exercise - to train the allied forces to jointly operate in combat.
About 2,700 American Marines are expected to join the exercises, along with about 800 Filipino marines, Caculitan said.(AP)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (October 15, 2007 issue)
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