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Friday, June 20, 2008
MILF, Abu Sayyaf 'coddling Indon terror suspects'
MANILA -- Two Muslim rebel groups in the Philippines, including one engaged in peace talks with the government, have provided sanctuary and helped Indonesian terror suspects sought by Washington elude arrest for years, said an interrogation report of a captured Indonesian militant.
Among several Indonesians hiding in the south were Umar Patek and Dulmatin, suspects in the deadly 2002 Bali nightclub bombings who have trained local insurgents in bomb making, the Indonesian government report said.
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Mohammad Khildan Baihaqi, a suspected member of the Indonesia-based militant group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) who was captured by troops in southern Davao Oriental province in February, told Indonesian authorities that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayyaf helped him and other Indonesians gain sanctuary and protection in the south.
Baihaqi's disclosures show that Indonesian militants and Filipino insurgents continue to maintain active ties in the southern Philippines, organizing terror training and plotting new attacks.
The Philippine military has said about 40 Indonesian Islamic radicals have been on the run from US-backed offensives, looking for a way to escape back home.
Indonesian authorities were allowed to interrogate Baihaqi, who is in army custody in Manila.
"The Indonesian mujahedeen or voluntary fighters in Mindanao were under the protection of the MILF and the ASG (Abu Sayyaf group)," the report quoted Baihaqi as saying.
The southern Mindanao region, home to the Philippines' Muslim minority, has seen decades of bloody Islamic separatist rebellions by several groups.
The Abu Sayyaf, blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist group for conducting bombings, kidnappings, and beheadings, was implicated in the recent kidnapping of a popular TV news anchor and her two-man crew. They have been freed.
The MILF and Abu Sayyaf have separately collaborated with Indonesian Islamic radicals in plotting new attacks, said Baihaqi, who the report said was allegedly involved in a plan to bomb a Roman Catholic cathedral in the south when captured.
Baihaqi said he was given sanctuary by the Abu Sayyaf in their mountain strongholds on southern Jolo island in January to September 2006 and then lived with MILF guerrillas in southern Davao del Norte province, near where he was arrested.
The MILF, a large rebel group involved in on-and-off peace negotiations with the Philippine government, has denied any links with foreign terror groups. It forged an agreement with the government in 2005 to help local troops capture criminals, including al-Qaeda-linked militants.
Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said Thursday that Baihaqi may have been given sanctuary by MILF members who have broken away and allied themselves with foreign Islamic militants.
Kabalu said the MILF has no "official connection" with radical groups such as JI, but he did not rule out the possibility that some foreign Islamic militants may have married local sympathizers of his group to gain shelter and protection.
Suspected JI leader Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, has reportedly married a Filipino woman, allowing him to blend in with local Muslim communities for years, Kabalu said.
A Malaysian engineer, bin Hir, has been accused of involvement in a number of deadly bomb attacks in the Philippines.
Washington has offered large rewards for the capture of Dulmatin, Patek, and bin Hir.
Baihaqi refused to provide details that could help authorities locate Patek and Dulmatin, who the Philippine military believes may have been killed in a clash in the south earlier this year, or the number of Indonesian militants hiding in the south, the report said.
Indonesian officials thought Baihaqi knew where Dulmatin and Patek were hiding but said in their report that he steadfastly refused to give their location away "because of the fundamental radical ideology that no matter what happens, even if it means death for him, he should never say anything."
Patek receives funds for the Indonesian militants from unknown foreign sources, the report said. (AP)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (June 20, 2008 issue)
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