A bomb planted by the brutal Abu Sayyaf group caused a ferry fire in February that killed over 100 people in the Philippines' worst terrorist attack, an investigation concluded Monday. President Gloria Macapagal, who initially downplayed a claim of responsibility by the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf, said six people, including two arrested shortly after the attack, have been charged. "These are the same people responsible for the Dos Palmas kidnapping," she said, referring to a mass abduction from the Dos Palmas resort on Palawan island in 2001 that left several hostages dead. She said the men in custody made and planted the bomb, and that one beheaded Guillermo Sobero of Corona, Calif., early in the yearlong hostage crisis. Missionary Martin Burnham of Wichita, Kan. also died during a rescue mission that freed his wife, Gracia.
"I am now instructing the police and the military to intensify the manhunt for the two masterminds — Khaddafy Janjalani and Abu Sulaiman — and their two other accomplices," Arroyo told a news conference. Sulaiman was the target of an unsuccessful U.S.-backed operation two weeks ago aimed at capturing or killing him, his son and other Abu Sayyaf members. He and Janjalani, the group's main leader, already had $5 million bounties on their heads. |