RI militants set up base to attack RP, RI: Suspect

RI militants set up base to attack RP, RI: Suspect

Jim Gomez, Associated Press/Manila

Two Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) leaders have cut their ties with the
Indonesian-based terrorist group and established a base in the
southern Philippines to wage attacks in both countries, according
to a captured Indonesian militant.

The Indonesian militants - Dulmatin, who goes by one name, and
Umar Patek - have trained recruits and plotted attacks from their
southern Philippine base, but their efforts have been hampered by
several arrests and army offensives, according to a report on the
interrogation of Abdullah Sunata, an alleged rebel leader
captured in Indonesia in June.

A copy of the confidential report on Sunata's interrogation in
Indonesia was seen by The Associated Press on Thursday.

Dulmatin, an electronics specialist known for his bomb-making
expertise, and Patek, who has focused on recruitment and
training, are key suspects in the 2002 nightclub bombings that
killed 202 people in Indonesia's Bali island. The attacks are
blamed on al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah.

In October, Washington announced rewards of up to US$10
million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of
Dulmatin, and up to US$1 million for the capture of Patek, citing
their alleged role in the 2002 Bali attack and involvement in
Jamaah Islamiyah.

But Sunata said the two men told him in 2003 that they had cut
their ties with Jamaah Islamiyah amid an intense manhunt for them
by Indonesian police "because they believed that their continuous
association with that group ... would just make it easier for the
Indonesian authorities to track them down and arrest or kill
them," the report said.

The two fled separately to the southern Philippines and
established a base of operations on Mindanao island with the help
of a commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has
been waging a Muslim separatist insurrection in the region for
decades, according to the report.

Patek sought Sunata's help in sending Indonesian recruits for
training and membership in their group in Mindanao, preferring
Indonesians who fought in deadly clashes between Muslims and
Christians between 1999 and 2001 in the eastern Indonesian
provinces of Maluku and central Sulawesi, the report said.

Patek and Dulmatin were involved in those clashes, which
killed more than 10,000 people, Sunata said.

Sunata sent 13 Indonesian recruits in five batches for
training and membership in the group in Mindanao in 2003 and
2005, the report said.

A Saudi Arabian donor identified as Abu Mohammad sent
US$11,500 to finance Patek's Mindanao operations, Sunata said,
adding that he had arranged for couriers to deliver the money.

Sunata and Patek regularly communicated by e-mail and mobile
phone text messages, discussing "how they could continue the
jihad (holy war) in Indonesia and the Philippines," the report
said.

Sporadic but intense military and police crackdowns, however,
led to the arrests of several members of Patek's group and forced
the militants to move to other Mindanao areas, the report said.

The report did not detail the attacks that were staged or
planned by Patek's group, but said that two weeks before Sunata's
arrest in June, he received an e-mail from Patek informing him of
a planned attack on "military installations located along beach
fronts." No other details were given.

Philippine authorities believe Dulmatin and Patek are still on
the run in the country's south with al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf
rebels.