HE LOOKED young enough to pass for a teenager. And nothing in his lean frame suggested he was what the military portrayed him to be: a man who trained terror bombers. A faint hint of a smile even crossed Rohmat's face when the Armed Forces yesterday presented the Indonesian -- hands bound in cuffs -- to the media, saying he helped plan with the Abu Sayyaf Group leaders the Valentine's Day bombings in Makati City. Intelligence officials said Rohmat trained the Abu Sayyaf in bomb making, particularly the use of mobile phones to trigger explosions.
Like many Indonesians, Rohmat goes by one name only. Linked to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has been blamed for a string of terrorist attacks in Southeast Asia, including the 2002 bombings at Indonesia's Bali resort, which killed nearly 200 people. "He is a big fish," Armed Forces public information chief Lieutenant Colonel Buenaventura Pascual said. "He was responsible for training the people involved in the Makati attack."
A military statement said Rohmat -- also known by the aliases "Zaki," Hamdan and Akil -- had admitted a mouthful to investigators:⢠He was present when the ASG leaders planned the Feb. 14 bombings in Makati, General Santos City and Davao City, which killed eight people and wounded more than 150;
⢠ASG's senior leader Khadaffy Janjalani and Commander Abu Solaiman "ordered and financed" the bombings; and
⢠He was given sanctuary by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to evade capture after he was wounded in November. If what Rohmat said was true, it would belie earlier military reports that Janjalani had been killed in a military bombing in Maguindanao province last year.
Only 25 years old, Rohmat was the liaison officer with the ASG of the Southeast Asian regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah, the military statement said. Tall and slim, he carried a deep scar on the right side of his mouth -- the only visible mark in his face that jarred with his boyish looks. He and a Filipino companion were arrested at a military checkpoint in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town, Maguindanao, last March 16 while on board a motorcycle, the military said. Soldiers became suspicious of him because he could not speak Tagalog well.
Rohmat was the latest of a number of Indonesian militants arrested in the country in recent years for alleged involvement with JI. They included three Indonesians who, along with an ASG member, were arrested in Zamboanga last Dec. 14. The top JI operative in the country, Fathur Roman Al-Ghozi, was killed in North Cotabato province in 2003 after escaping from a Camp Crame detention center. "With Zaki's capture, the Philippine government dealt another serious blow to the JI's and the ASG's financial linkages, operational capability and organizational morale," declared Armed Forces Deputy Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Edilberto Adan as the Indonesian stood behind him. "It was revealed by our suspect Zaki that he was present during the planning of the bombing. Charges that will be filed are now being prepared," Adan said.
When pressed by reporters, Adan could not elaborate on the alleged bomb conspiracy. "The name Zaki has been appearing in our various investigations of captured personalities," he said. "It is very possible that he is involved in the other atrocities or operations of the Abu Sayyaf in the previous years."
Authorities said Rohmat illegally entered the country through Zamboanga City in January 2000. He told investigators that he was appointed by a JI leader named Zulkifly, a top regional terror suspect arrested in Malaysia two years ago, as liaison officer with the ASG, Adan said in a statement. Adan said Rohmat trained in the MILF's Camp Abubakar in Maguindanao and, when it was overrun by government forces in 2000, Rohmat's group moved to Camp Jabal Quba in Butig town, Lanao del Sur province. There he finished top of his "class" in October 2002 and the following year began training ASG members on explosives in Patikul, Jolo, Sulu.
Rohmat also told investigators that he was wounded last November in an air raid in Datu Piang town but was sheltered by some elements of the MILF's 105th Base Command while he recuperated, the military said.
Authorities immediately cleared the MILF of links to the JI. "The involvement of the MILF here is never on an organizational basis. Certain members may now and then cooperate, never the organization," Defense Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor said. On the other hand, he said, the "tactical alliance between the Abu Sayyaf and JI has shown itself several times in the past."
Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez said he issued a "mission order" against Rohmat last March 13 based on Army intelligence reports. The mission order empowers immigration agents to detain a suspected illegal alien.
Fernandez said it was only during Rohmat's interrogation that the latter confessed his true identity. He said the Indonesian would undergo deportation proceedings for being an undesirable alien but only after criminal charges against him were resolved. Malacañang commended the military and the Bureau of Immigration for Rohmat's arrest. "The Philippines is doing its share in fighting terrorism in this part of the world and we will continue to work with our neighbors in seeing to it that the threat is contained," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.
Bunye said the government drive against terrorism had nothing to do with religion. "Religious faith is never an issue in our campaign against terrorism," Bunye said. "This is a matter of enforcing the rule of law among all, regardless of creed, ethnic origin or social station." Bunye added: "We have to deal with the bad eggs hiding under the cloak of religion to foment terrorist goals." |
Fawaz Zi Ajjur, whom security officials suspect may be an al-Qaida operative, was arrested Saturday in the southern city of Zamboanga after a circuitous journey that took him to Russia, Thailand, Malaysia and before arriving in the Philippines, the officials said. Ajjur did not have a visa and was taken into custody by immigration agents at the Zamboanga airport, Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez Jr. said. He was later allegedly identified by two captured Abu Sayyaf guerrillas as one of the foreign militants who trained them in bomb-making near Patikul town on the southern island of Jolo island a few years ago, a security official said on condition of anonymity. Ajjur strongly denied the allegation and any terrorism links, the official said.