Al-Qaeda linked group exporting terror from Philippines: U.S.<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Manila<\/p>\n
The United States said on Tuesday it remained deeply concerned
\nabout terrorist training camps in the southern Philippines run by
\nIslamic militants with links to the Al-Qaeda network.<\/p>\n
U.S. ambassador Francis Ricciardone said the camps on Mindanao
\nisland were run by Jamaah Islamiyah, the group blamed for the
\n2002 bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali and other attacks
\nacross Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
\"With respect to the Philippines we remain very concerned at
\nthe presence of training camps of the Jamaah Islamiyah,\" he told
\nthe Foreign Correspondents Association in Manila.<\/p>\n
He said group's activities on Mindanao, where Muslim rebels
\nhave been fighting an anti-government insurgency for decades,
\nposed a threat not only to the Philippines but to the wider
\nregion.<\/p>\n
\"When you train someone in Mindanao to device bombs and how to
\nplant them, that becomes a threat and it's not limited just to
\nthe immediate neighborhood where that person was trained,\"
\nRicciardone said.<\/p>\n
\"They can go throughout the Philippines, throughout Southeast
\nAsia, throughout the world, and murder people. So it is a
\ncontinuing threat.\"<\/p>\n
The ambassador said JI had been able to set up shop in the
\nsouthern Philippines because of the weak rule of law in the area.<\/p>\n
Filipino security officials acknowledge that JI militants,
\nincluding some who have been linked to bombings in Indonesia,
\ntrained until the late 1990s in guerrilla camps on Mindanao.<\/p>\n
Some of the camps were operated by the Moro Islamic Liberation
\nFront (MILF), the Philippines' largest separatist guerrilla
\ngroup.<\/p>\n
The MILF publicly condemned terrorism last year as it prepared
\nto hold peace talks with President Gloria Arroyo's government,
\nbut the subsequent death of its leader Salamat Hashim have left
\nnegotiations in limbo.<\/p>\n
Filipino Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita says the authorities
\nestimate there were still around 40 Jamaah Islamiyah militants in
\nthe Mount Cararao region of central Mindanao. He says most of
\nthem are Indonesian, who are training local Muslims.<\/p>\n
JI's ultimate goal is to unite Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia,
\nSingapore and the southern Philippines into a fundamentalist
\nIslamic state. It uses terrorist attacks as its most high-profile
\nweapon to destabilize regional governments.<\/p>\n
Six suspected Filipino JI members were arrested in southern
\nManila last week after police foiled what they described as a
\nplot to bomb the June 30 inauguration of President Arroyo.<\/p>\n
Ricciardone said terrorist funds were flowing across borders
\nand he said there was a direct link to the Philippines from the
\nMiddle East.<\/p>\n
\"We know that there are at least ideological links and
\npersonal links from here to the Middle East, from Mindanao to the
\nMiddle East,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"There are personal connections, family connections, (they)
\ntravel back and forth and they are quite worrisome.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/al-qaeda-linked-group-exporting-terror-from-philippines-us-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}