The al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has stepped up its training of Philippine terrorists, giving instructions on the manufacture of bombs hidden in cars, vests and even helmets, security officials said yesterday. Top intelligence officials revealed this new threat as Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Edgar Aglipay presented three foreigners and their Filipino cohort who are suspected of training local extremists in the jungles of Central Mindanao. Aglipay identified the four alleged JI militants as Indonesians Mohammad Nasir Hamid and Mohammed Yusop Karin Faiz; Ted Yolanda, a Malaysian; and their Filipino cohort Muhajir de la Merced, tagged as an operative of the Abu Sayyaf's special operations group.
PNP Intelligence Group director Chief Superintendent Ismael Rafanan explained the four had been training Abu Sayyaf extremists and a small group of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas in bombing techniques and strategies. "They have reached a high level of sophistication in (the) use of car bombs but Filipinos are not yet ripe for suicide bombings," Rafanan said.
Rafanan said the three foreigners are members of JI, the Southeast Asia-based arm of al-Qaeda, said to be behind the October 2002 Bali bomb blasts in Indonesia that claimed over 200 lives. The three foreigners were arrested as they entered the port of Zamboanga last December, after foreign governments had tipped off Manila on the suspects' movements, Rafanan told reporters. He said the group was headed for a known JI training base on Mount Kararao in Central Mindanao. "They were preparing to go into (making) car bombs," Rafanan said. "They have reached that level of sophistication. They are ready to do it." Although Rafanan did not identify the supposed targets, he said the suspects had planned to "train people to do that."
Explaining the delay in presenting the suspects, Rafanan said this was due to follow-up operations by the military to determine local contacts and identify those sending terrorist funding from Indonesia. Security officials also stressed the arrest had been made before the spate of bomb attacks that rocked Makati City in Metro Manila and the cities of General Santos and Davao in Mindanao, killing 13 people and wounding 140 others last Feb. 14. "We cannot link them to the three bombings on Valentine's Day," he said. "They were supposed to launch five bomb attacks in Manila and on Mindanao island during the Yuletide season."
Police announced the arrest of two suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits involved in the Feb. 14 blasts last Tuesday. Authorities also bared plans for another bombing run by the Abu Sayyaf that would have targeted shopping malls in Metro Manila, Mindanao and central Visayas. Rafanan said the three JI militants and the Abu Sayyaf bandit have been in PNP custody since December. He stressed the arrest had purportedly averted their "plans" to sow terror during the holidays.
Western intelligence agencies had previously warned of terror training camps in Mindanao, some supposedly run by radical MILF guerrillas who provide sanctuary and training facilities for al-Qaeda-linked militants. Rafanan pointed out the operation also yielded training manuals, guns and explosives seized from the detained suspects during their arrest. A total of $7,000 in cash was also seized, police said. He said intelligence agents began shadowing the four from the time they were first monitored in Tawi-Tawi, the country's southernmost territory near Malaysia's eastern Sabah province.
The four suspects were proceeding to a JI training camp in central Mindanao when they were arrested. Police presented seized diagrams that showed methods of planting car bombs, which they said were to be used to train local extremists. In a later interview with The STAR, Rafanan outlined the level of expertise of the four and detailed the training they are supposed to provide local militants. He said the training included the manufacture of high-projectile materials fashioned out of metal fragments from cars to helmets, as well as utilizing photographer's vests in carrying out bomb attacks.
Steel helmets, Rafanan claimed, can be used as metal projectiles against helicopters and other low-flying aircraft. "It is known as a modified anti-aircraft (weapon) which is attached to a propelling device. It is packed with a large quantity of black powder, a primer fuse, sharp metal and a detonator," he said.
Rafanan said the low-tech device can be very destructive to low-flying aircraft since it could damage and derail flight. Rafanan also revealed the training would have included the use of car bombs, similar to those used by the JI in the Bali bombings in 2002, the Marriott Hotel attack in Jakarta in 2003 and the attack on the residence of Philippine ambassador to Indonesia Leonides Caday in August 2000. "This is most sophisticated in terms of use in attacks in our country. Ito ang mas kinatatakutan namin kasi mas maraming casualties ang maabot (We are afraid this would happen because of the number of casualties it would result in)," he said.
Although local terrorists are not yet "that dedicated" to perform suicide bombings, Rafanan stressed the JI has been conditioning local extremists to carry out suicide attacks. He said the JI had particularly emphasized the use of flak vests as human bombs. The suicide attacker is supposed to don the vest, containing massive amount of explosives packed into steel pipes and rigged for detonation.
Rafanan noted the Valentine's Day bombers used milk cans and backpacks to transport the explosives but these, too, were relatively sophisticated since all were triggered by cellular phones. The seizure of several copies of the Q'uran written in Arabic and CDs containing messages from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden found among the four suspects added further evidence of the JI's aims to establish a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia that would include the southern Philippines.
Reyes, for his part, declared the four to be members of the JI, the shadowy regional network of militants linked to al-Qaeda that is blamed for the Bali bombing in 2002 that killed 202 people and other deadly attacks in the Southeast Asian region. On the other hand, Reyes said the four suspects can only be charged with possession of explosives and weapons, as well as immigration laws violations. "We only charge them with violating our immigration laws because we still don't have an anti-terrorism law," Reyes said, making a strong pitch for passage of the controversial measure that was revived in Congress after last week's attacks.
The anti-terror bill is among several measures that have gathered dust since they were first proposed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Attempts to revive the bill have faced stiff opposition because of deep distrust of government power, a hangover from the country's painful experience under martial law during the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos' 20-year rule.
In a related matter, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said the United Nations will be sending a team of experts to assist the Philippine government in crafting a version of an anti-terrorism law that will conform to all existing treaties against terrorism. Romulo said the team will be provided by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's Terrorism Prevention Branch based in Vienna, Austria in response to the ongoing efforts of the Arroyo administration to come up with an anti-terrorism law. Romulo pointed out that the Philippines should come up with an anti-terrorism law that will conform to the provisions of the 12 international treaties to which the country is also a signatory. These include the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages.
"We are grateful to the UNODC for sharing their expertise and advice through this timely activity in aid of our efforts to enact laws against terrorism," Romulo said. "Through this workshop, the Philippines not only affirms its resolve to address this threat but also underscores the commitment to embark on this critical endeavor in partnership with the UN and the international community," he added. President Arroyo had certified the bill as urgent last week but failed to get the desired response from Congress, which has been focused on the passage of fiscal reform measures. |
The United States may be granted basing rights in Mindanao by the Bangsamoro Political Entity once the final peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is signed and implemented, according to an in-house think-tank of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).