Manila (AKI) - The largest Muslim rebel group in the Philippines, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), has rejected the government's claims that the terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has a tunnel complex near the MILFÂ’s former base on the southern island of Mindanao. The former base is located at Mt. Cararao, in Lanao del Sur, Mindanao.
In an interview published on Luwaran, the MILF website, a junior officer of the MILF armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), described the accusation as “another last-ditch attempt [of the government] to revive the issue of terrorism in Mindanao.”
The media in the Philippines recently reported the claims of the JI tunnel complex in MILF territory.
The allegation was attributed to an unnamed military intelligence source that likened the JIÂ’s new base at Mt. Manggaturing, near the MILF former base at Mt. Cararao, to the al-QaedaÂ’s Tora-Bora hideout in Afghanistan.
Tora-Bora is a mountain complex of tunnels and caves in Afghanistan where al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, is believed to have taken refuge in the past.
The BIAF officer said that Mt. Cararao is volcanic and cannot allow for safe tunnels, while Tora-Bora is rocky and strenuous.
“Obviously the military agent has not gone into Cararao and the story is a mere fantasy,” he said.
The BIAF officer asked for the establishment of an independent team to travel to Cararao and Magaturingen to verify the existence of the tunnels.
The MILF has been fighting for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao for the past 30 years.
The group used to have close links with JI, an Indonesia-based terror organization that struggles to unite most of Southeast Asia into an Islamic caliphate.
The MILF-JI link was 'officially' broken when the late MILF chairman, Salamat Hashim, asked US President George W. Bush to mediate with Manila. Washington's commitment was partially based on the MILF's pledge to renounce terrorism, which was made public by Hashim in a policy statement released on June 20, 2003.
However, experts still believe that individual MILF commanders coddle members of JI and the Abu Sayyaf.
The Abu Sayyaf is a Filipino homegrown terror group based in the Sulu Archipelago.