JI training terrorists in Philippines: MInister

JI training terrorists in Philippines: MInister

Oliver Teves, Associated Press, Manila

Indonesian members of the Southeast Asian terror group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) have been training Filipino recruits in bomb- making and evading arrest, and telling them to pursue the group's goal of a pan-Islamic state, the Philippines' defense chief said on Thursday.

Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita said intelligence reports indicate that 31 JI militants are training Filipino insurgents in southern Philippine jungle camps run by some commanders of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Al-Qaeda-linked JI is suspected of several terror attacks, including last year's Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

Philippine authorities say the group was involved in a series of December 2000 bombings that killed 22 people and injured more than 100 in the capital, Manila.

Ermita avoided accusing the MILF itself of harboring the Indonesian JI members, apparently trying not to erode government- MILF peace talks, which are expected to resume next month.

However, the MILF adamantly denied Ermita's statements and said an unidentified "third force" in the government and the military was attempting to derail the fragile peace process with baseless accusations.

"There are no JI members inside our camps," said MILF Vice Chairman Ghazali Jaafar. He said his group's cease-fire with the government, which has held since July, proves the rebels want peace.

Jafar said the rebels were open to inspections and had already promised to help the government hunt down any militants.

Ermita claimed the Indonesians were giving lessons in improvised bombs and "how to avoid being detected" by government troops, as well as religious instructions to advance JI's goal of a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia.

Some of the Filipinos become instructors after the training, he said.

Ermita didn't say how many people are believed to have completed the training. He said it was also uncertain whether any of the trainees had been given "mission orders."

Ermita said the military believes the training was being conducted in at least two jungle sites on the main southern island of Mindanao.

The government has given the MILF leadership a list of rebel commanders suspected of supporting Jamaah Islamiyah.

"We are giving them (the MILF) the benefit of the doubt," Ermita said. "We are going to take them on their word."