RP confident of Al-Ghozi's capture

RP confident of Al-Ghozi's capture

PHILIPPINES: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo expressed
confidence on Friday that Philippine authorities would soon
recapture fugitive Indonesian bombmaker Fathur Roman Al-Ghozi.

"We are not pegging a date for the capture of Al-Ghozi, but
the hunt for him will be focused, intense and relentless," Arroyo
said in Manila. "The dragnet is closing in on him and we are
severely limiting his chance of getting through it."

Al-Ghozi, a self-confessed member of al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah
Islamiyah, was serving a 12-year prison term for possession of
explosives and was scheduled to be arraigned in connection with
the 2000 Manila bombings that killed 22 people when he escaped
from a maximum security cell at the national police headquarters
in July.

Arroyo said she would visit soon the southern Mindanao region,
where Al-Ghozi is believed to be hiding, to check on the efforts
to track him down and to review peace efforts with Moro rebels.

Formal peace talks with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation
Front were expected to resume in October. -- AP