RP forces arrest six JI suspects

RP forces arrest six JI suspects

PHILIPPINES: Philippine security forces said on Tuesday they had foiled a plot by an Al-Qaeda-linked Southeast Asian terror group to bomb ceremonies marking President Gloria Arroyo's inauguration.

Counterterrorist police units swooped down on an eastern Manila Muslim community before dawn, detaining six men and seizing five kilograms of explosives, Manila police Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong said.

He said the men -- a cell of the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terror network -- planned to plant explosive devices at Manila's Rizal Park, also known as Luneta, where Arroyo was to make a pre- inauguration speech on Wednesday.

She will be sworn in later in the day in the central city of Cebu as the country's 15th president after winning May 10 elections.

"We received information that they would be planting these bombs in the vicinity of Luneta," Bulaong said. -- AFP