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.