RP links JI leader to 2000 bombings
RP links JI leader to 2000 bombings
Agencies, Manila
An Indonesian leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) network funded religious militants blamed for deadly bomb attacks in Manila in 2000, Philippine prosecutors said on Wednesday.
They said they were collecting more evidence to see whether Riduan Isamuddin -- also known as Hambali -- could be prosecuted over the deaths of more than 20 people in the bombing of a train and other targets in the Philippine capital on Dec. 30, 2000.
The allegations coincided with the trials in Indonesia of cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, JI's alleged spiritual head, for treason and of two other militants over the blasts on the resort island of Bali in October 2002 that killed 202 people.
Also on Wednesday, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) -- the biggest Muslim rebel group in the Philippines -- denied allegations made at Bashir's trial that JI militants trained at its camps on the southern island of Mindanao.
Philippine state prosecutor Peter Ong said Hambali's alleged involvement in the Manila bombings was revealed to investigators by self-confessed JI member Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, an Indonesian, and local Moro militant Hadji Onos, alias Moklis.
Al-Ghozi and Moklis, both in Philippine custody, are also being investigated over the attacks in Manila.
"We cannot subpoena (Hambali) because we do not know his whereabouts," Ong told reporters.
He said the pair had also named a Malaysian, Faiz Abu Bakar Bafana, as one of their financiers.
"Based on the sworn statements of al-Ghozi and Moklis, Hambali and Faiz gave financial support to the bombing," he said.
Al-Ghozi told prosecutors he knew Moklis, and that they both carried out the bombing with direction of both Hambali and Bafana.
He said the two JI leaders arrived days before the attack to check on how the planned terrorist attack was coming along.
"Actually, I and Moklis, along with two others, were the ones who fetched them from the airport," al-Ghozi said referring to Hambali and Bafana.
While in Manila, Hambali and Bafana discussed with them "the jihad program in the Philippines and the Asian region," al-Ghozi said without elaborating.
Police submitted as evidence a flight manifest that showed the JI leaders arrived aboard a Malaysian Airlines flight on Dec. 1, 2000, bolstering intelligence reports that the MILF and the JI operated together.
It said Bafana and Hambali had provided operational funds for the attack through a bank account under a fictitious name controlled by al-Ghozi.
Al-Ghozi and Moklis meanwhile were the ones who actually carried out the attack, it said.
Al-Ghozi is serving a 17-year prison term in the Philippines for possession of explosives and falsifying his travel papers.
He has admitted in writing to being a member of JI, which intelligence agencies have accused of plotting to bomb Western targets as part of a campaign to establish an Islamic state embracing parts of Southeast Asia.
Al-Ghozi and Moklis were manacled and heavily guarded by police with assault rifles when they were taken to the Department of Justice building for a pre-trial hearing.
"Yes, I admit it, even if I die here now," Moklis told prosecutors when asked whether he took part in planning the Manila train attack in 2000.
Al-Ghozi was merely asked to sign his name and put his thumbmark on statements he had previously given to police admitting his involvement in the bombings.
There was an emotional moment at the hearing when Moklis asked to talk alone with al-Ghozi. The two clasped hands before Moklis broke down and cried.
A witness at Bashir's trial told a Jakarta court on Tuesday he and other Indonesian militants had trained in handling explosives at an MILF camp in the southern Philippines in 1997 and 1998.
"We do not allow Indonesians or any other foreigners to train in our camps," MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu told Reuters by telephone.
"Our training camp is exclusively for the MILF and we train our people in guerrilla techniques and not in using explosives."
Meanwhile, Philippine authorities have arrested three suspected Indonesian religious militants who were carrying an "improvised explosive device" at a bus depot in the southern city of General Santos, the military said on Wednesday.
The three were "in possession of an improvised explosive device similar to a warhead on an anti-personnel rocket-propelled grenade", armed forces vice chief of staff Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia said.
Yustinos Barahama, 18, Alan Panggilawan, 19, and Mark Panggilawan, 18, were arrested at the depot on Tuesday, the general told reporters.
On the basis of information from them, police raided a nearby village and arrested a fourth Indonesian, Charlito Panggilawan, 18, and a Filipino man named Jun Parida, he said.
Police are investigating whether the four Indonesians are members of the JI network blamed for a wave of bombings in Indonesia, he said.