MILF denies links with RI terror suspect

MILF denies links with RI terror suspect

Agence France-Presse, Manila

The Philippines' main Moro separatist group on Sunday denied
having links with an Indonesian man alleged by security experts
to have played a key role in the al-Qaeda terrorist network in
Southeast Asia.

Linking the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to Fathur
Rahman al-Ghozi "is part of a grand design to have us labeled as
terrorists," rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu told AFP.

Al-Ghozi was arrested by Philippine authorities in January,
leading to the recovery of a cache of explosives hidden in the
south and apparently to be used in bombing attacks in other
Southeast Asian countries.

Police and military intelligence say al-Ghozi is a key member
of the Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant group in the region with
alleged ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terror network.

Prosecutors have said that al-Ghozi has also admitted to
plotting deadly bombing attacks with the MILF in Manila in
December 2000 which killed more than a dozen people.

But rebel spokesman Kabalu on Sunday said that the MILF leader
Hashim Salamat "is a moderate man" who will not sanction attacks
against civilian targets.

He accused certain personalities in the government of
President Gloria Arroyo and within the military establishment of
creating a scenario to scuttle peace negotiations and justify
resuming offensives against the MILF.

"We do not have links with the Jemaah Islamiyah nor with the
al-Qaeda, but we cannot speak for other groups in the southern
Philippines like the Abu Sayyaf," Kabalu said, referring to the
kidnap gang now the subject of a joint U.S.-Philippine military
operations in southern Basilan island.

Meanwhile, the al-Qaeda terror network of Osama bin laden is
being linked to a bloody destabilization campaign in the
Philippines, which may be part of its plot to seize power in
Southeast Asia, officials said.

Philippine immigration chief Andrea Domingo told AFP that at
least two senior regional al-Qaeda network leaders visited the
country with al-Ghozi ahead of a series of deadly bombings in
Manila more than a year ago.

She identified the leaders as Faiz Abu Bakar Bafanaa, now
detained in Singapore with a dozen others for allegedly plotting
to bomb key installations in the city state, and Reduan
Hishammuddin -- better known as Hambali -- an Indonesian preacher
and a Malaysian permanent resident now at large.

They allegedly funded the Manila bomb attacks on Dec. 30, 2000
which killed at least 14 people and injured about 100 others at
the height of a popular military-backed campaign to oust then
president Joseph Estrada.

"Based on our records, on December 1, 2000, the two leaders
were in Manila and they left on December 6 -- going to Kota
Kinabalu (capital of Malaysia's Sabah state)," Domingo said.

Accompanying them was al-Ghozi, who was arrested here in
January and has confessed to playing a key role in the bomb
attacks.