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Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Al Khobar leader is MILF commander: Arrested bomber
By Malu Cadelina Manar
KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Arrested Al Khobar extortion group member Musali Calo said a Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commander whose base is in a marshland in Maguindanao leads their group.
Calo, however, clarified that the MILF as an organization has nothing to do with the extortion activities of the Al Khobar.
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Calo identified a certain Zabide Abdul alias Beds, as the leader of the group.
He said Zabide leads a unit of the MILF in Barangay Pawas, General SK Pendatun in Maguindanao.
Pawas, according to Calo, is in Liguasan marsh where members of the group usually met to plot extortion and bombing activities in Central Mindanao.
Aside from Zabide, he also met a certain Salahuddin Hassan, whom he said is a relative of one of the suspected bombers arrested in Kidapawan City in connection with the KMCC mall bombing on November 22, 2007 that killed a mall employee and injured eight others.
Hassan is also a relative of Ustadz Abdulaziz Hassan, an Islamic preacher whose house in Barangay Nuangan here has been searched last week due to reports that six incendiary bombs were kept in the area.
No bomb was recovered during the search, but only 20 kilos of urea, which authorities said could be used as an oxidizer in making an incendiary bomb.
Babu Sanao Hassan, wife of Ustadz Hassan, said the fertilizers were given to them free by the North Cotabato provincial government and Kidapawan City government under the rubber development program.
Calo has executed an extrajudicial confession, a copy of which was given to few members of the media here, last Monday.
He signed the documents in front of his lawyer from the Public Attorneys' Office (PAO) in North Cotabato.
Calo confessed having bombed the steel towers of the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) in Kidapawan City last July 2007. He was with a certain Badrudin Guiasilon who was arrested in Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat in August 2007 when he executed the bombing.
He also admitted having bombed Makilala town in North Cotabato in October 2006, which is said to be the deadliest explosion in Central Mindanao since 2005.
In October 10, 2006, two explosives went off along the highway in Makilala when the town was celebrating its foundation anniversary. Eight people died and 40 others were injured during the blasts.
Calo said the explosives, fashioned from 81 mm mortars, were assembled in his house in Barangay Pawas.
It was Zabide, whom he said was trained to manufacture bombs that led the operation.
Zabide, according to court records, is facing several murder charges in connection with a number of bombing activities in Central Mindanao, including the latest explosion at the PhilBest Tuna Canning Corporation in General Santos City that killed four and injured 28 others. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pangasinan. (February 27, 2008 issue)
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