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Southeast Asia

JI members also being held in Filippino jail

2005-03-14

Up to six people were killed Monday in a bloody jailbreak attempt by a number of Filipino Muslim militants from Al Qaeda-linked groups, police said. Gunfire rang out at the Camp Bagong Diwa prison as police special weapons and tactics units, some inside an armored personnel carrier, surrounded one building in the compound where the armed Abu Sayyaf prisoners were holed up on the second floor. The inmates had overpowered their guards and grabbed two assault rifles and a handgun in an early morning melee, said Metropolitan Manila police chief Avelino Razon. Police spokesman Jun Cruz said "more or less eight to 10 inmates" may have been involved in the escape attempt. Some 100 other prisoners were held on the other floors of the building, Superintendent Cruz said. "They (gunmen) are confined in one building. They cannot go out," he added. "We are trying to defuse the situation. We have deployed snipers and a negotiating team," Razon said. Cruz told reporters three jail guards and one prisoner had been killed two hours into the standoff. Shooting subsided by mid-morning as the authorities used bullhorns to try to convince the gunmen to surrender. Other police sources however put the death toll at six including four Abu Sayyaf inmates and two prison guards. The sources said a prisoner and a jail guard were wounded. An AFP photographer at the scene saw two casualties, both wearing the uniforms of prison guards, being taken out on stretchers and loaded onto ambulances. Other inmates at the prison called up a local radio station in a bid to open negotiations with the authorities. They claimed the gunmen were holding about 100 inmates hostage, including Chinese held on drugs charges. But police dismissed the hostage report, saying the armed prisoners have been isolated in one section of the compound and the other prisoners were secured. "We are negotiating with the suspects inside," Cruz said, adding that the gunmen wanted to hold talks with two prominent Muslim personalities, including movie actor and Muslim convert Robin Padilla and southern Philippines Muslim legislator Mujib Hataman. Padilla was abroad and efforts were being made to reach Hataman, Cruz said. The legislator said on local radio earlier Monday that he did not know the gunmen. The shooting was the latest in a series of jailbreak attempts involving detained Muslim militants in the Philippines capital. The prison, located in the headquarters of the Metropolitan Manila police, holds suspects arrested for terrorism-related cases including Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah militants. UPDATE: MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A group of Muslim-extremist inmates at a maximum-security jail in Manila agreed to surrender Monday, a day after they snatched weapons from guards in an escape attempt that left at least five people dead, police said. Police surrounded the facility at Manila's Camp Bagong Diwa, where 425 suspects are detained, including 129 suspected members and leaders of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group. "There was some delay because they feared for their safety," said Avelino Razon, police chief for the Manila area. "But they changed their minds and they've agreed to come out." Mujib Hataman, a Muslim congressman who was negotiating with the inmates by telephone, said the prisoners demanded assurances they wouldn't be harmed, speedy trials and the right to air their grievances to authorities, he said Police spokesman Leopoldo Bataoil, who warned of a major assault if the inmates didn't surrender their weapons, said about 10 men were involved in the uprising, led by Abu Sayyaf members Alhamzer Manatad Limbong and Kair Abdul Gapar. At least three guards were killed, said police Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. Two Abu Sayyaf members also were killed, police said. The jailbreak came on the day the new national police chief took office. "We are fast becoming the world's laughingstock because of what has been happening in our jails," said Sen. Manny Villar, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Illegal Drugs. Still More: March 14, 2005 11:26 PM - The stand off in Camp Bagong Diwa that left three jailguards and two prisoners dead continues Monday evening as the Abu Sayyaf inmates changed plans of surrendering to the negotiating team. Deputy Director General Avelino Razon of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said the Abu Sayyaf inmates instead asked for food as precondition for surrendering the three .45 pistols that they took from three jailguards. But Razon said they will give the inmates led by Alhamser Limbang known as Commander Kosovo their dinner only after their surrender. He also said they are now becoming doubtful of the inmates' sincerity to surrender saying that the suspects could only be prolonging the negotiation. Among the negotiating team for the police are Reps. Mujiv Hataman, Allan Cayetano, ARMM Governor Farouk Hussin, and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes. Razon said that all media entities are on stand by for the inmates' surrender. The suspects initially demanded that they be given media exposure after their surrender to air their side and defend themselves from the charges. They also want the police to assure their safety after their surrender and they also want a pony speedy trial of their cases. Razon nevertheless said he believed inmates will surrender before the day ends because the government have been sincere in granting the demands. He did not mention any plans to effect an assault to end the stand off. But reports reaching abs-cbnNEWS.com said the government negotiators have already left the BJMP building, which should indicate that the authorities are preparing for an assault as of posting time.

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Southeast Asia

More details on the jail break/hostage situation

2005-03-14

A suspected Islamic militant grabbed a guard's rifle Sunday while being led to a court hearing, shot dead three other guards and holed up in the building with armed detainees who joined him, police said. Police surrounded the building in Manila, and negotiators were trying to end the standoff, police Superintendent Agrimero Cruz said. It wasn't clear if hostages were being held, he said. But a detainee delegated to speak for the prisoners told DZBB radio that the suspects were holding around 100 hostages. It wasn't clear if they were detainees, guards or both. Cruz said the prisoners demanded to talk to movie action star Robin Padilla, a Muslim convert, and Partylist Representative Mujib Hataman. The attacker, a suspected Abu Sayyaf militant, was being escorted from a maximum security detention center that houses mostly Muslim extremists when he overpowered the guard. He then took his rifle and shot the prison officers around him, police officials said. At least three guards were killed, Cruz said. Another police officer said at least three other prison officials were wounded and rushed to a hospital. Developing... Still more info: National Capital Region Director Avelino Razon in a television interview said the Abu Sayyaf inmates are now restricted in one area inside the jail facility while the rest of the inmates were transferred to a safer section in the detention center. The group is led by Alhanser Manatad Limbong alias Commander Kosovo, Commander Robot and Commander Global, all known Abu Sayyaf leaders. [Former hostage] Gracia Burnham visited Camp Bagong Diwa last year for the hearing of suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits accused of kidnapping for ransom. She identified six of eight men, all suspected of being members of the Islamic Abu Sayyaf group, as among her kidnappers. They are Abu Umbran alias Abdul Assan Djamla , Kosovo, Abu Kair Mokhtar alias Khayr Moktar, Alsen Jandul alias Balintong Djandul, a certain Abu Daud and Bas Ismael. Marksmen and Special Forces are deployed in the area to cordon off the section where the Abu Sayyaf inmates are holed out.

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Southeast Asia

Abu Sayyaf jail break attempt in the Philippines

2005-03-14

Up to six people have been killed in a bloody escape attempt by Muslim militants linked to Al-Qaeda at a maximum security prison in the Philippines capital, police said. Gunfire rang out at the Camp Bagong Diwa prison in the early morning as police special weapons and tactics units surrounded one building in the compound where an estimated 10 armed Abu Sayyaf prisoners were holed up on the second floor. Negotiations were ongoing at 11.15am local time (0315 GMT) as police snipers took up positions around the building while the shooting subsided. The inmates had overpowered their guards and grabbed three guns as the guards conducted a daily headcount of the 435 prisoners including 129 Abu Sayyaf members, said Superintendent Agerino Cruz, the Manila police spokesman. Police sources put the death toll at six including four Abu Sayyaf inmates and two prison guards. The sources said a prisoner and a jail guard were wounded. An AFP photographer at the scene saw two casualties, both wearing the uniforms of prison guards, being dragged out of the building by colleagues and loaded onto ambulances. National police spokesman Senior Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil told reporters those involved in the escape attempt are believed led by Alhamser Limbong and Tahir Abdul Gafar. Both are on trial for the kidnapping of a group of tourists including three Americans in the western Philippines in 2001. Several of the captives, including two Americans, were killed and beheaded in the year-long hostage drama that ended with the rescue of the third American, Christian missionary Gracia Burnham. Since then the Abu Sayyaf group, set up in the 1990s allegedly with money from Al-Qaeda, has made it to the US State Department's "foreign terrorist organization" blacklist. The gunmen are "hardened criminals, terrorists," national police chief Arturo Lomibao told reporters outside the prison gates. "We are not going to think twice if necessary to launch the final option," he said, referring to a prison assault. Then why are you standing there talking to reporters? Shouldn't you be planning? On the upper floors of the prison, some of the inmates, many of them naked from the waist up, peered out from behind bars. In late morning, Parouk Hussin, the governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, a Muslim self-rule area in the south, and Mujib Hataman, a legislator from the area, entered the prison compound to help the prison authorities negotiate with the gunmen. The prison holds many of the top detained leaders of the Abu Sayyaf as well as some of the suspects in the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines, Bataoil said. This would be an excellent excuse for "unfortunate" accidents to occur to said terrorists; fog of war and all that. They include the suspects in the 2000 bombing of a Manila overhead rail system that claimed more than 20 lives and the firebombing of a ferry on Manila Bay last year that left more than 100 people dead, he told reporters. The shooting was the latest in a series of jailbreak attempts involving detained Muslim militants in the Philippines. About 11 months ago eight escapees were killed after at least 53 prisoners including about 20 Abu Sayyaf suspects broke out of a jail on the Abu Sayyaf stronghold of Basilan island in the south.

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Southeast Asia

Filippino authorities hunting 320 JI graduates

2005-01-11

Some 320 suspected Muslim militants are being hunted in connection with terrorist plots, including an alleged plan to bomb the Feast of the Black Nazarene procession in Quiapo, Manila last Sunday, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said yesterday. PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) officer-in-charge Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Mendoza said the 320 were being hunted following the apprehension of 16 suspected militants in a Manila Islamic library on Friday. At least three improvised explosive devices and hand guns were seized in the raid which police said foiled the planned bombing of the Black Nazarene procession, in which an ebony image of Jesus was paraded around Quiapo. The procession pushed through without a hitch. Organizers said it was the biggest crowd in recent years. Five of the 16 suspected militants were charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives. The rest were released. The 320 suspects are believed to have undergone explosives training in the northern Philippines in 2002, most of them as members of the "Rajah Solaiman Group," said Mendoza. He also said they were involved with Allan Borlagdatan, a convert to Islam who was arrested in December while allegedly trying to plant a bomb on a bus. He was later shot dead after grabbing the firearm of his police guard and killing him. A movement to convert more Filipinos to Islam, called "Balik-Islam" (Return to Islam) has also been linked with the alleged conspiracy, though its members denied being involved with the bomb plots. Meanwhile, some 100 members of various Muslim groups held a rally at the Camp Crame in Quezon City, demanding the release of the five suspects still held after Friday's raid. The protesters carried placards calling for the release of Afghani Alonto, Muamar Adam, Leonardo Akhmed Ricalde, Josefino Yusof Aor and Alih Nadja Hashim. The protesters came from the ranks of the Assalam Bangsamoro People's Party, Balik Islam Unity Congress, and the party-list group Anak Mindanao led by Rep. Mujib Hataman. "Release Ricalde and the Islamic teachers of the Islamic Information Center," one of the placards, written in Filipino, read. Usof Ledesma, a spokesman for Balik Islam Unity Congress, said the evidence against the five was planted. He added that Mendoza and Superintendent Alen Bantolo of the CIDG's Task Force Maverick lied when they said the arrested Muslims were plotting a suicide bomb attempt at the Quiapo Church procession. Penny Disimbal, national president of the Assalam Bangsamoro People's Party, branded as "irresponsible" the CIDG's claims that the arrested men were terrorists. "We strongly condemn the PNP statement tagging the innocent Muslim as out to plot bombings of the Quiapo processions, during the celebration of the Day of the Black Nazarene," Disimbal said. "This irresponsible posturing creates undue animosities and fans unfounded hatred between Muslims and Christians, to the detriment of the Filipino people," he said. Disimbal added that they have witnesses to prove that the alleged explosives and firearms seized from the suspects were "planted" by law enforcers who barged into the Islamic Information Center, located on the second floor of the Agoncillo Building on Pedro Gil street and Taft Avenue in Manila, without search warrants. Witnesses said two members of the raiding team brought black bags where the supposed explosives and firearms were kept, later presenting these to reporters as evidence. "We abhor and detest the unceremonious desecration of the Muslim Mussalla prayer room and learning center and the arrest of 16 innocent Muslim individuals without justifiable reason or basis and the continuing harassment of the Muslims in Metro Manila and elsewhere," Disimbal said. Both Ledesma and Disimbal cleared the five suspected terrorists of any wrongdoing. "Definitely, Afghani Alonto and four of his companions are not terrorists... We are not against terrorists being caught, we are against wrongful arrests," Ledesma said. Ledesma defended the suspects from accusations that they were engaged in the recruitment and training of would-be members of their "terrorist cells." He noted that Alonto, one of the suspects, openly announced they are entertaining individuals who want to learn the Koran. Alonto set one lesson on Jan. 8, but he was arrested the day before by law enforcers from the CIDG, the Western Police District and the Sala'am Police. "We do not train terrorists... We only want to disseminate the teachings of Islam to those who go to the Islamic Information Center," Ledesma said. He added that his group has been trying to stay away from controversy since arrests of some of their former leaders and members, which included Borlagdatan and Redendo Cain Dellosa, a suspect in the SuperFerry 14 bombing that killed more than 100 people in the country's worst terrorist attack in February last year. Ledesma said his colleagues wanted to live "normal lives" and simply study the Koran since the police operations against Dellosa and other members of the Rajah Solaiman Movement some two to three years ago. Mendoza claimed the suspects were part of the Hukbong Khalid Trinidad, an alleged cell of the RSM. Ranking police intelligence officials distanced themselves from the CIDG operations, saying Friday's raid was conducted without evidence of the group's alleged terrorist activities. Angered by the arrests, Muslim leaders also accused the PNP-CIDG of using Muslims as "pawns" to receive more funds, possibly from the United States, in the guise of boosting the country's efforts against terrorism. About 30 minutes before the Muslim groups staged the surprise picket yesterday, PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil presented anew to the media the suspects inside their detention cells in the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response building to disprove claims of torture. Mendoza said in a statement issued late yesterday that Friday's raid was brought about by "verified information" gathered by the CIDG that the center was being used as a front by radical Islamist groups and individuals. Manila regional trial court Executive Judge Enrico Lanzanas issued the search warrant on charges that the suspects violated Presidential Decree 1866, which covers the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. "The initial search yielded improvised explosive devices and firearms," Mendoza said. He added that out of 17 people arrested during the raid, five were presented before a public prosecutor for inquest proceedings while the rest were released after their identities were verified. "The CIDG assures the public, particularly our Muslim brothers and sisters, that we shall continue to dig deeper into this case if only to go after those who give Islam a bad name and thereby safeguard public safety and national interest," Mendoza said. Ledesma also denounced the apparent failure of the Sala'am Police — a specialized unit formed by the PNP to address the concerns of Muslims — in defending the rights of those faithful to Islam. He alleged that the Sala'am Police failed to help Mona Yusoph, 24, who was reportedly raped twice when she was detained at the compound of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) from Oct. 6 to 24 last year. Yusoph was held incommunicado at the ISAFP compound in Camp Aguinaldo after she was arrested with other suspected terrorists, according to Ledesma. She was later released after police filed charges of illegal possession of firearms against her. Ledesma said Yusoph's relatives and friends were given the run-around when they tried to find her at the AFP and other offices in Camp Crame. Yusoph, who is engaged in the travel agency business, flew back to Mindanao traumatized by the sexual abuse she underwent while under ISAFP custody, he added. A medico-legal report on Yusoph revealed her vagina sustained 14 lacerations as a result of the two incidents of rape while she was detained at the ISAFP, Ledesma said.

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