Suspect details terror training and plots by JI militants in RP

Suspect details terror training and plots by JI militants in RP

Jim Gomez, Associated Press/Manila

A terror suspect said on Wednesday the southern Philippines has become a major training ground for regional terror group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) - graduating 23 bomb experts just days ago - and a refuge for Indonesians involved in major attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings.

Rohmat, arrested last week as an alleged Jamaah Islamiyah operative in the Philippines, told The Associated Press that he had trained new recruits of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group and said its leaders were plotting more bombings and kidnappings.

Details provided by the 26-year-old Indonesian martial arts expert showed a close but highly compartmentalized relationship between two of the most dangerous groups in Southeast Asia and partly explained why the threat of terrorism has persisted despite years of crackdown.

When he left a Jamaah Islamiyah camp called Jabal Qubah in southern Mindanao island shortly before he was arrested at a military checkpoint, Rohmat said 23 Indonesian recruits had just finished jungle training that included lessons in explosives, weapons, combat and Islam.

"There were 23 men who have just finished the courses. I heard they would be sent back home and others would stay behind to train a new batch," a handcuffed Rohmat said during a 30-minute interview at a military safe house, in the presence of officials.

Training of Jamaah Islamiyah recruits in Mindanao started in the late 1990s, he said.

He said he traveled to the southern Philippines as a trainee with other Indonesians in January 2000, and two years later became an instructor on Islam and martial arts - but not bomb- making as alleged by military officials. He said he taught Indonesians and local Abu Sayyaf recruits in Mindanao's Maguindanao province and nearby Jolo island.

Around 2002, Rohmat, who assumed a number of local aliases including Zaki, said he was designated by Zulkifli, then the Indonesian head of the Jamaah Islamiyah in the Philippines, as a contact man for dealings with the Abu Sayyaf, including training its recruits and staying close to its leaders, Khaddafy Janjalani and Abu Sulaiman, most of the time.

The group planned attacks on its own, independent of Jamaah Islamiyah, which only provided training, he said.

Rohmat said he was present in a meeting when Janjalani and Sulaiman plotted the Feb. 14 bombings that killed eight people and injured more than 100 others in Manila and two southern cities.

The two leaders also gave orders for new major bombings in Manila and one of two southern cities, probably Davao, during the Easter holiday, he said.

During his five-year stay in the south, Rohmat said he met two Indonesian militants, also from Jamaah Islamiyah, including one he identified as Dulmatin. Both were involved in the bombings in Bali, Indonesia, that killed 202, mostly foreign tourists, Rohmat said. He declined to identify the other militant.

Intelligence officials have told AP that Rohmat trained the Abu Sayyaf in bomb making, particularly the use of mobile phones to trigger homemade explosives.

Officials said on Monday that three Jamaah Islamiyah operatives are suspected of plotting with the Abu Sayyaf to launch bomb attacks this week.

A recent intelligence report said Jamaah Islamiyah gave Abu Sayyaf militants at least US$18,500 (euro13,900) last year for explosives training.

Jamaah Islamiyah also has been blamed for the August 2003 bombing of the J.W. Marriott hotel in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, which killed 12 people.

Rohmat said he joined Jamaah Islamiyah knowing it fostered "pure Islamic teachings" but it was too late when he learned that the group advocated a type of violence which he disagreed with because it victimized innocent people.

"I couldn't do anything anymore because I was already there," he said.

"I had no money and I didn't know how to escape because there was no way out. I could go out but I knew that would mean my arrest."

In a separate development, Philippine security officials said on Wednesday they arrested a suspected militant and recovered at least 11 sacks of explosives i n a Manila suburb intended for bombing plots by extremists.

A military statement said the suspect, Tyrone Dave Santos, leader of the Rajah Solaiman movement that is suspected of links to the Abu Sayyaf extremist group, was arrested on Tuesday.

His arrest led to follow-up operations on Wednesday that resulted in the seizure of at least 11 sacks of explosives, 18 canisters of improvised bombs, a personal computer, and a video camera in a house in suburban Quezon City, the statement said.