RP hunt bombers, questions rebel claim

RP hunt bombers, questions rebel claim

Manny Mogato, Reuters/Manila

Philippine security forces hunted on Tuesday for the bombers
behind blasts in Manila and two other cities that killed 11
people on Valentine's Day, while investigating a Moro rebel claim
of responsibility.

Abu Sayyaf, a small militant group linked to al-Qaeda, said it
carried out the attacks in crowded public places on Monday to
punish the government for a heavy military offensive on its
strongholds on the southwestern island of Jolo.

"It's too early to tell," national security adviser Norberto
Gonzales said of the claim of responsibility.

"We're looking at several angles, including the networking of
foreign militants and home-grown rebel groups," he told Reuters.

The three blasts in the largely Roman Catholic country came
closely together on Monday evening as people were traveling home,
shopping and going out for dinner on Valentine's Day.

Six people were killed in Manila and five in two southern
cities -- four in General Santos and one in Davao. More than 150
people were wounded in the three attacks.

Some security officers said the bombs could have been an
attempt to distract the army as nearly 5,000 troops on Jolo
battled about 800 Abu Sayyaf rebels and renegade members of
another faction.

Army and police intelligence officials said they were not
ruling the involvement of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), a shadowy
regional network linked to al-Qaeda and the suspected fund-raiser
for previous attacks by Abu Sayyaf and other Philippine groups.

"We cannot accept the Abu Sayyaf's claim hook, line and
sinker," a police counter-terrorism official told Reuters.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was determined to continue
the offensive against the Abu Sayyaf rebels.

"We must not pull back but move forward to wipe out the
remnants of the Abu Sayyaf," she said, rejecting calls for a
truce on Jolo.

"This is not a fight against Islam."

At least 20 rebels and a soldier were killed in fighting on
Jolo on Monday night as troops scoured jungles for rebels fleeing
from air strikes, said Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza, the most senior
commander in the southern Philippines.

The latest casualties brought to 110 rebels and troops killed
since Feb. 7 when heavy fighting erupted on the island.

Edgardo Aglipay, the national police chief, said his 115,000
officers were on full alert to help in the hunt for the bombers.

He released two sketches of suspects in the attacks in
Manila's business district and at a bus terminal in Davao but
dismissed the Abu Sayyaf claim. The third blast was at a shopping
mall in General Santos City.

"It could be a ploy to mislead our investigation," Aglipay
said. "We want our findings to be backed by evidence."

In February 2004, more than 100 people were killed when a bomb
planted by Abu Sayyaf sank a ferry near Manila Bay.
Community leaders on Jolo had called for a truce and lawmakers,
most of them Arroyo's allies, proposed allowing former separatist
leader Nur Misuari to go into exile as a way of stopping the
fighting.

Security analysts and Philippine officials say about 30
Indonesian militants from JI and other groups are active in the
south, training and advising Philippine rebels.

Several prominent figures in JI, which is accused of the 2002
Bali bombings and other attacks in the region, have been arrested
or killed in the Philippines.

But a police intelligence official said Monday's attack on the
bus terminal in Manila looked to have been carried out by Abu
Sayyaf working with a radical group of Christians who converted
to Islam.