Ten suspected Indonesian suicide bombers hunted in Philippines
Ten suspected Indonesian suicide bombers hunted in Philippines
Agence France-Presse, Manila
The Philippines said on Thursday it was hunting 10 Indonesian
extremists who were feared to be plotting suicide attacks, as
security was stepped up following a spate of bombings in the
south.
National Security Advisor Norberto Gonzales said the
Indonesians, from an extremist group linked to al-Qaeda, could be
behind two bomb blasts in the southern city of Zamboanga on
Wednesday which injured at least 26 people.
He said two of the militants were already believed to be in
the capital Manila scouting possible targets with the help of
Filipino accomplices from the Abu Sayyaf group.
Police in Zamboanga meanwhile announced they were questioning
four suspects about the blasts.
The Abu Sayyaf, a gang of Moro militants blamed for the
bombing of a ferry last year in Manila Bay that killed more than
100 people, were also suspected of planning the attacks in
Zamboanga.
"The searches will be intensified," said Gonzales, adding that
possible targets in Manila such as hotels and shopping malls had
been alerted.
Gonzales said the Philippines had received a tip-off from
unspecified foreign governments about the 10 Indonesians who were
believed to be from the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) group behind the
2002 bombings on the island of Bali.
He declined to elaborate on the sources, but a security
official told AFP that at least two top JI lieutenants who played
key roles in the Bali attacks had slipped into the southern
island of Mindanao.
The two were identified as Omar Patek and Dulmatin, whose real
name is Joko Pitono and who allegedly helped assemble the bombs
that killed 202 people on the Indonesian resort island.
Gonzales said the Indonesian suspects may be working closely
with Dulmatin.
"What is important here is we are beginning to see a new
development as far as terrorism is concerned in the Philippines,"
Gonzales said.
He said JI was "beginning to employ non-Filipinos in the
Philippines terror action, this to us is significant."
The military said on Wednesday's blasts in Zamboanga, which
tore through a mini-bus and an inn, could be meant as a
diversionary tactic by the Abu Sayyaf to slow a military
offensive against the group.
The militants, including Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani,
have been in a cat-and-mouse chase with the military in the
jungles of central Mindanao island since July.
"The police and military are under strict orders by the
president to get to the root of these attacks and bring the
perpetrators to justice," President Gloria Arroyo's spokesman
Ignacio Bunye said.
Zamboanga city police director Henry Lozanes said four
suspects were being questioned about the blasts.
"We picked up three suspects for questioning and another one
suspect was questioned from among those wounded," he said.
Police officials said the bombs in Zamboanga appeared to have
been made with ammonium nitrate, a substance also used in
fertilizer.
National police chief, Director General Arturo Lomibao,
visited the bombing sites and ordered tighter security in the
city, describing the bombings as "a terrorist attack meant to
harm civilians."
The last major bombings in Zamboanga city took place on Oct.
17, 2002 when two bombs exploded in a shopping mall, leaving six
dead and 150 wounded.
Security analysts in the region say that while the Abu Sayyaf
ranks have fallen in recent years after its key leaders were
captured or killed, its cells have been infiltrated by JI
militants.
A military intelligence report has also said that up to 40 JI
militants trained last year in a rebel camp controlled by the
separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The MILF is
negotiating peace with Manila and has denied the report.