'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."