Five Indonesians sought for Davao city bombing

Five Indonesians sought for Davao city bombing

Agencies, Manila

Five Indonesians suspected to be part of a regional terrorist
network are being sought for a bomb attack in the southern
Philippine city of Davao that killed 16 people last week, police
said on Monday.

The five are alleged members of the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI),
said to be the Asian front for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror
network, national police intelligence chief Roberto Delfin said.

The Indonesians were said to have carried out the bombings
with a so-called "special urban terrorist action group" under the
separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a 12,500-strong
force that has been waging a rebellion in the south since 1978,
he said.

"Five Indonesians are being eyed as suspects in the Sasa wharf
bombing. All are suspected JI members with links to MILF special
operation group," Delfin said without elaborating. "And a manhunt
has been launched against them."

Delfin identified the five suspects as Zulkifi, Nasuradin,
Haji Akmad, Sulaiman and Hamiya.

Also on Monday, President Gloria Arroyo ordered military and
police intelligence units to step up operations against
terrorists following the deadly bombing at the Davao wharf.

Arroyo warned about foreigners "involved in terrorist
conspiracies".

"This is a matter of national security and we will not engage
in diplomatic niceties or accommodations of suspected
personalities," she said in a statement.

Arroyo also urged the MILF to prove that they were not
involved in the latest bombing incident.

"We will not allow the government to be caught in a squeeze
play between terrorism and the peace process," she said.
"Terrorists cannot hide behind pretensions to peace. We will
expose them and throw the full weight of the law against them."

The military and police should "maintain high levels of
security all over the country and not give any terrorists the
opportunity to capitalize on lax security," presidential
spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a statement.

"Intelligence services should step up operations against
foreign terrorists and their links within the country," he said.

Arroyo however is cautioning against "high-profile arrests or
deportations without credible proof."

The president had said the southern city of Davao was in a
state of "lawless violence." The bombing of the wharf last
Wednesday came just four weeks after a similar attack on an
airport lounge that killed 22, including an American, also in
Davao.

The MILF has denied involvement in the attacks, but has
admitted there may be certain elements within its organization
that don't follow the leadership structure and are considered
"lost command" rebels.

Police in the southern city of General Santos meanwhile
intercepted on Monday more than one hundred kilos of agricultural
chemicals commonly used by the rebels for making homemade bombs
and arrested two suspects.

The chemicals, composed of potassium nitrate and peptic
chloride, and a containers of gasoline were recovered by ordnance
experts near a village in General Santos, Senior Inspector Alexis
Yap said.

The two rebels arrested claimed the chemicals were to be used
in making dynamite for fishing, but police said it would likely
be used for bomb attacks in the south.