RP suspends peace efforts with rebels<\/p>\n
MANILA (AFP): Philippine President Joseph Estrada said
\nSaturday the government would suspend peace efforts with Muslim
\nrebels after police accused them of carrying out deadly bomb
\nattacks in Manila a week ago.<\/p>\n
\"For now, we'll suspend that. Anyway, it was not (fully)
\nstarted yet so there'll be ongoing operations against the MILF
\n(the Moro Islamic Liberation Front),\" Estrada said, referring to
\nmoves to reopen peace talks with the separatist group.<\/p>\n
His statement came after police said they had proof linking
\nMILF leaders to five bomb blasts that rocked Manila on December
\n30, killing 22 people and injuring almost 100 others.<\/p>\n
His announcement also followed police and radio stations
\nreports that two new unexploded bombs had been found in cities
\noutside of Manila.<\/p>\n
\"We cannot tolerate this. What they have done is a major blow
\nnot only in the lives of people but also in the livelihood of
\npeople, in terms of foreign investment, tourists and our
\neconomy,\" Estrada told reporters.<\/p>\n
Speaking on a government television show earlier, national
\npolice chief Panfilo Lacson said the plan was to \"neutralize the
\nleadership\" of the MILF.<\/p>\n
He added that he would ask the cabinet to lift a suspension of
\narrest warrants against the MILF leadership when top security
\nofficials met with Estrada later Saturday.<\/p>\n
Talks with the 13,000-strong MILF collapsed last year after
\nthe military overran most of the guerrillas' major camps and the
\ngovernment served arrest warrants on its leaders for allegedly
\nplanning a spate of bomb attacks in shopping malls in which one
\nperson was killed.<\/p>\n
The MILF is the larger of two Muslim guerrilla groups fighting
\nto set up an Islamic state in the southern third of the largely
\nRoman Catholic archipelago.<\/p>\n
However Manila has recently been making peace overtures to the
\ngroup again, even suspending the arrest warrants.<\/p>\n
But on Friday, police sought the filing of criminal charges
\nagainst MILF chairman Hashim Salamat, vice chairmen Mohammad
\nMurad and Ghadzali Jaafar and four other alleged MILF members for
\nthe December 30 bombings.<\/p>\n
Lacson said police had evidence against the MILF leadership,
\nincluding a document captured by the military from a MILF camp in
\nMay detailing plans for more bomb attacks in Manila.<\/p>\n
He said a car used in the bomb that went off near the Manila
\ninternational airport on December 30 had been traced to MILF
\nmembers.<\/p>\n
Lacson also said police had reports that the MILF was planning
\nto move from Manila to stage bomb attacks in the central city of
\nCebu and the southern city of Davao.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, a bomb containing dynamite and a timer was found
\nunder a bridge near San Simon town in Pampanga province, north of
\nthe Philippine capital, according to local radio station DZBB.<\/p>\n
The device was spotted by a motorist under a highway bridge,
\nthe station quoted highway personnel as saying. Explosives
\nexperts are still trying to defuse the bomb, the report added.<\/p>\n
Police separately confirmed that a bomb, made of ammonium
\nnitrate, a clock and bags of nails, was found and defused in a
\nshopping mall in Davao on Friday.<\/p>\n
It was not immediately clear if these new bombings were
\nrelated to the Manila blasts.<\/p>\n
In the southern Philippines, where the 13,000-strong MILF is
\nbased, Shariff Julabbi, a regional chairman of the group, denied
\nit was behind the attacks.<\/p>",
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