'MILF played key role in training JI militants'
'MILF played key role in training JI militants'
Agence France-Presse, Singapore
The Philippines' main Moro separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), played a key role in training militants from the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) at their guerrilla base on Mindanao island, Singapore said in an official report.
The training was carried out at Camp Abu Bakar, a sprawling MILF base in the main southern island of Mindanao which was captured by Filipino troops a few years back.
"Cooperation between the JI and the MILF is most evident in training," Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs said in a White Paper on the Southeast Asia-based JI militant group released on late Thursday.
It said that "sometime in 1997, MILF allowed JI to set up its own training facility within Camp Abu Bakar."
The facility was called Camp Hudaybiyya and was run by Indonesian members of the JI, which Singapore said plotted to blow up American and other targets in the city-state.
"Training within this camp ranged from the basic to more specialized training in explosives-handling. Several of the Singaporean JI members arrested had learnt to handle revolvers and M16 rifles in this camp," it said.
Camp Hudaybiyya "was specially reserved for JI training only and was closed to the rest of the trainees" of the MILF.
An Indonesian member of the JI, Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, who helped procure explosives to be used for the suicide bomb attacks in Singapore, has been identified as a "demolitions" expert of the MILF. He has been jailed in the Philippines.
The MILF has been waging a separatist struggle for an independent Moro state in Mindanao for more than 20 years.
Camp Abu Bakar covers several towns and villages in central Mindanao many of which are populated by the guerrillas and their families.
Before its capture by Filipino troops in 2000, the MILF imposed strict Islamic law in the villages covered by their camp and boasted of a military school, a prison and a weapons manufacturing facility, among others.
Manila has rejected demands by the MILF for the government to recognize these camps as rebel territory as part of peace talks.
According to the White Paper, three of 31 suspected JI members detained in Singapore had taken an "oath of allegiance" before MILF chieftain Hashim Salamat and helped raise funds for the group.
The Singaporeans, Husin Aziz, Zulkifli Jaffar and Habibullah Hameed also "received military training by the MILF, performed sentry duty at Camp Abu Bakar to guard against attacks by the Philippine Army and also helped MILF to purchase materials for making explosives."