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Southeast Asia

Egyptian terror suspect held in Cotabato

2007-12-20

A combined police-Army team on Wednesday arrested a suspected Egyptian terrorist in a residential district in Cotabato City and found in his apartment materials used to fabricate homemade bombs and reading materials espousing religious extremism. Police seized materials supposedly used in bomb-making, including detonating cords, pellets, clocks, a mortar booster, firing wire, batteries, Christmas bulbs, cell phone chargers and switches. Mohammad Sayed, also known as Abu Husein, was arrested inside his apartment at the Woman's Islamic Center around 2 a.m. The apartment is owned by a certain Ustadz Salama Abdul Rakman in Kampo Moslem, Barangay Mother Bagua. Sayed is alleged to have links with both the al-Qaeda and the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah. Police seized materials supposedly used in bomb-making, including detonating cords, pellets, clocks, a mortar booster, firing wire, batteries, Christmas bulbs, cell phone chargers and switches. A book entitled "Yayasan Pusakan Sawono" and a military manual of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front were also confiscated. Police said they are now investigating whether the suspect is a member of a terrorist organization. Police said they are now investigating whether the suspect is a member of a terrorist organization. Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the suspect was taken to the city's police station for detention. "The suspect is now undergoing interrogation," Ando said. Ando said intelligence operatives of the 6th ID are still hot on the trail of Sayed’s companions and contacts in Cotabato City and Shariff Kabunsuan. Government security units have arrested more than a dozen suspicious foreigners, mostly of Middle Eastern origins, in Central Mindanao in the past three years.

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Southeast Asia

Bombing attempt at South Upi passenger terminal foiled

2007-03-14

The public’s timely call for military assistance in South Upi, Maguindanao, prevented a bomb planted at the passenger terminal of the municipality from inflicting harm at dawn on Tuesday. Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, Army’s 6th Infantry division spokesman, said a Teduray native first took notice of a suspicious–looking package placed in a secluded portion of the terminal around 4:00 a.m. and called the attention of his companions. He said the natives, after taking a quick look at the package, immediately informed the terminal management, who, in turn, called for assistance. “It was just fortunate that the bomb was discovered containing an 81-mm projectile with a battery-operated timing device attached to a mobile phone,” Ando said. “Local authorities immediately contacted the Army’s bomb disposal unit whose members defused the bomb,” Ando added. According to witnesses, they earlier saw two men leaving the package at the terminal and both suddenly disappeared from sight. Ando said they suspect a local terror cell of the Jemaah Islamiyah as the ones behind the bombing attempt.

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Southeast Asia

Muslim rebels launch mortar attack on army camp in the Philippines

2007-03-08

Muslim guerrillas fired mortar rounds Thursday on an army camp in a southern Philippine town where they had earlier battled troops, causing no injuries but raising concern over the future of the peace process, officials said. Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas fired about four 81 mm mortar rounds toward the army's 40th Infantry Battalion headquarters before dawn, but missed the target, damaging nearby houses in Salunayan village in Midsayap town, the officials said. The blasts roused villagers from sleep but there was no immediate sign they were about to flee, Midysayap police chief Superintendent Chino Mamburam said. These rubes are giving mortar gunners a bad name. Mr. Charles would have dropped four rounds down their chimneys and been gone before the last round hit. Regional army spokesman Lt. Col. Julieto Ando said the guerrillas apparently wanted to avenge the deaths of 17 rebels who were killed on Monday in fierce fighting in Midsayap, triggered by rebel allegations that troops were encroaching on their strongholds. Oh. Well. If it's a matter of Dire Revenge™ then it's okay... Muslim rebel spokesman Eid "Lipless Eddie" Kabalu said the guerrillas launched the mortar attack because army troops continued to move into guerrilla positions despite efforts by a government-rebel ceasefire committee to contain days of sporadic fighting. "We're being pushed against the wall," Kabalu told The Associated Press by telephone. "We have no recourse but to fight back." The fighting will not end unless army troops withdraw far from rebel positions, he said. He claimed some local officials were backing the army incursions because they wanted the guerrillas to leave the predominantly Christian town, 890 kilometers (550 miles) south of Manila. "These people wanted to derail the peace process," Kabalu said. Army officials, however, said troops withdrew from several Midsayap villages Wednesday to avoid escalation of violence with the MILF.

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Southeast Asia

Philippine troops withdraw after deadly clash with Muslim rebels

2007-03-07

Philippine troops withdrew from several southern villages after isolated clashes with Muslim rebels killed 18 guerrillas and a soldier, officials said Wednesday. Maj. Gen. Nehemias Pajarito, commander of the army's 6th Infantry Division, ordered troops to leave the villages in Midsayap town to avoid a further escalation of violence with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said Brig. Gen. Edgardo Gurrea. The MILF rebels and the military, which have been observing a 2003 truce despite occasional clashes, have accused each other of initiating the fighting on Monday and Tuesday in Midsayap, 890 kilometers (550 miles) south of Manila. Rebel and government representatives met Tuesday afternoon with Malaysian-led truce monitors after the clashes subsided. Pajarito said the body of another guerrilla was discovered Wednesday, raising the number of dead rebels to 18. Midsayap Mayor Romeo Arana said soldiers have left three villages at the center of the conflict, and that he was overseeing the return of about 4,500 residents who had fled the fighting. Von al Haq, the MILF co-chairman of a joint cease-fire committee, said by telephone that the MILF, the military and truce monitors were preparing to travel to the area to verify the withdrawal. "Let us see how sincere the army is," he said. He said the fighting occurred in villages on the fringe of the Liguasan marsh, where MILF members moved last month under an agreement to redeploy away from a highway, after clashing with the military in January. "We're almost pushed to the wall," al Haq said, adding that the fighting broke out after soldiers — who had provided security for a U.S. military team on a medical mission over the weekend — encroached into the MILF position, with only 300 meters (1,000 feet) separating the two forces. "The military has been slowly trying to ease us out," said MILF spokesman Eid "Lipless Eddie" Kabalu. Al Haq, in statement posted on the MILF Web site, said soldiers took "a seemingly premeditated move" to drive Muslims away from the town and deprive them of their claim to their ancestral territory — a key issue in stalled peace talks. "We have no interest in operating there," said Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the 6th Infantry Division, accusing the MILF of attacking soldiers who were merely manning their detachments, and spreading rumors that the military was about to strike.

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Southeast Asia

At least 18 dead as Philippine army fights Muslim rebels

2007-03-06

Army troops and Muslim rebels clashed in the remote southern Philippines despite a 2003 cease-fire, leaving at least 17 rebels and one soldier dead, military officials said Tuesday. The fighting erupted Monday night in Midsayap, a rural town of about 100,000 people 890 kilometers (550 miles) south of Manila, with the army and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front accusing each other of firing first. The battle raged overnight into Tuesday, leaving 17 MILF rebels and an army soldier dead, Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, the 6th Infantry Division spokesman. Three other soldiers were wounded. A local reporter at the site saw the bodies being gathered by the roadside in Sambolawan village, next to rebel-controlled Lumupog, where the fighting took place. About 300 rebels simultaneously attacked two military detachments with rocket-propelled grenades and 81 mm mortars, said Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, the 6th Infantry Division spokesman. Army Col. Diosdado Carreon said soldiers used artillery to push the guerrillas toward the nearby Liguasan marshland. But Von al Haq, the MILF chief representative on a joint cease-fire committee, blamed the military for starting the clashes. He said only one MILF member was killed and another wounded, and the bodies by the road were probably those of army troops. Al Haq said the soldiers, who had provided security for a U.S. military team on a medical mission in the area, entered a rebel camp at Lumupog near Midsayap, triggering the clash. Al Haq said the military positions were nowhere near Lumupog, disputing the army's claim that the guerrillas attacked their outposts. It wasn't immediately clear where the military positions were. "I already filed a protest before my counterpart when the soldiers stayed on after securing the U.S. troops on Saturday, asking them to reposition the troops," Al Haq told The Associated Press. "But nothing was done." He said both sides were discussing how to separate the combatants. About 7,500 frightened residents from at least 10 villages fled their homes, many trapped along an unpaved highway that the military closed to traffic early Tuesday, according to members of Bantay Cease-fire, a civilian group monitoring the truce. Some residents started fleeing their homes late last week, frightened by the arrival of tanks and soldiers moving into several villages that were abandoned by the MILF, said Rexall Kaalim, the group's coordinator. Ando denied there was a buildup of troops.

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Southeast Asia

Pinoy officials baffled by assassination attempt

2006-12-29

Ever'body scratching their heads... Authorities are still baffled as to the motive behind the failed bomb attack last Sunday against a member of the Maguindanao legislative council. Army Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesperson for the 6th Infantry Division, said they are still looking at different angles behind the failed attack against Maguindanao Provincial Board Member Datu Wata Adziz. One of the angles, he said, is rido (clan war). Adziz, according to Ando, survived the December 24 bomb attack along an isolated stretch of the Cotabato-General Santos highway, just hours after Army bomb experts defused a powerful explosive placed inside a tank of a motorcycle in Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat, which is traversed by the same road. Adziz and his security escorts were on their way to Cotabato City from Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao on board a blue pick up when a bomb exploded just as they were passing through a portion of the highway in Talayan, a town in the second district of Maguindanao. Ando said the bomb was made from two 60 mm mortars rigged with an improvised blasting mechanism. He said fragments of the two mortar shells almost ripped the board member’s vehicle but no one was injured. Ando said they have yet to identify the suspects behind the attack. Though I s'pose one could start by asking who has access to 60mm mortar rounds and the itinerary for legislators on Xmas Eve...

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Southeast Asia

Security Forces Foiled Terror Attack

2006-08-28

Cotabato City, 28 August (AKI) - Security forces in the Philippines have foiled a major terror attack as three suspected members of the home grown terrorist group, Abu Sayyaf, were arrested while boarding a Super Ferry in Parang, Maguindanao (Mindanao), bound for the capital Manila. The Filipino army's Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, Army's Sixth Infantry Division spokesperson, told reporters on Monday that the three were carrying explosives and that the attack was to be carried out in Manila. "They were about to board the Superferry on Sunday when we arrested them. Our informer knew them as the bombers. Their initial plan was to board the ferry and carry out the bombings in Manila in exchange for money”, he told reporters. "Two improvised explosive devices were found on them," he added. The arrest of the three came as a report said the police fear bombings during the upcoming fifth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. A recently-released intelligence report warned that two explosive experts have arrived in Manila. The two experts allegedly belong to the Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM), a small group of Filipino converts to Islam that has been linked to a number of deadly assaults, including the bombing that gutted one Super Ferry and killed 116 people in February 2004. In the Super Ferry attack, the RSM is known to have collaborated with Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a regional terrorist organization aiming to unite most of Southeast Asia into an Islamic caliphate. Ando said that the foiled bombing could be part of diversionary tactic as soldiers continue the "Oplan Ultimatum," military operations to hunt down Abu Sayyaf leaders, particularly Khadaffy Janjalani, as well as Indonesians said to be members Jemaah Islamiyah, a terrorist network responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings which killed over 200 people. Active in Mindanao, the Abu Sayyaf and JI are on the European Union and US lists of terrorist groups.

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Southeast Asia

MILF refuses to surrender "renegade" commanders

2005-01-16

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels have rejected a government demand that they surrender 60 rebel commanders and their men who attacked two Army outposts in Maguindanao on Jan. 10. "The MILF will definitely punish those responsible for the attacks, but turning them over to the government is out of the question," said Jun Mantawil, MILF peace panel chairman. The government has given the MILF 72 hours to surrender renegade commanders Ustadz Wahid and Abdul Rahman Binago and their men, who allegedly executed six soldiers during the attack on the military outposts. At least 13 MILF rebels were killed in the ensuing firefight and military mopping-up operations. Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Alexander Yano said Wahid, Binago and their men will now be considered common criminals, and troops have orders to hunt them down. At Malacañang, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said yesterday the Muslim raiders who attacked the Army posts last weekend in Mamasapano were nothing but "terrorists" and "rogues" outside the mainstream MILF which continues its peace talks with the government. "The terrorists are being isolated by the peace process and they are constricted by coordinated regional action in Asia," Bunye said, citing that neighboring countries support the Philippines in the regional anti-terror campaign. Speaking to reporters yesterday, Mantawil said the MILF will invoke the government-MILF ceasefire agreement in the handling of the MILF guerrillas who attacked the two military detachments. Mantawil said the attack was not sanctioned by the MILF central committee but was an apparent retaliation for the killing of kidnap gang leader Bides Binago in an encounter with government troops last week. "The media only quoted from Secretary Silvestre Afable Jr., chairman of the government peace panel, there was no formal demand made by the government," he said. "This is an unfortunate turn of events, particularly after the peace talks have regained some ground with the resumption in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia recently." The government and MILF peace panels met yesterday at Marco Polo Hotel in Davao City to discuss the attack. President Arroyo herself clarified that her administration's peace policy does not conflict with the government's all-out war policy against terrorism. Bunye said that no less than the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team that supervises the ceasefire in Mindanao and the Joint Ceasefire Committees have stepped up their efforts to prevent such renegade elements of the MILF to get away with their crimes. In Maguindanao, more soldiers have been deployed in remote detachments in Kabuntalan town in anticipation of an attack by MILF renegades. "The instruction is for us to maintain our defensive posture and stay put in our detachments," said Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, Army 6th Infantry Battalion commander. "We will only return fire if fired upon." Policemen and soldiers belonging to "Task Force Tugis," a quick reaction, anti-crime brigade of the 6th Infantry Division, killed Usi Abo, a leader of MILF renegades, and his 19-year-old son, Bandar, after Abo's band attacked an isolated military detachment in Kabuntalan the other day. Reports said Abo and his men opened fire first at soldiers sent to verify their reported presence in Kapilpilan here, triggering a running gunbattle. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu was quoted by radio station dxMS in Kabuntalan yesterday as saying that the slain gunmen were not MILF members, but a "lawless group" preying on poor Muslim residents of Kabuntalan and surrounding towns. Abo and his followers were first spotted in Kapilpilan by Muslim villagers, who reported their presence to the Army's 6th Infantry Battalion. Local sources have linked Abo and his son to Ustadz Wahid, the leader of the MILF renegades that attacked an Army detachment in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last Monday. Seven soldiers were killed in the attack. Wahid and his men also set fire to 36 bunkers inside the detachment and robbed the slain soldiers of their belongings, combat boots and service firearms before escaping to a nearby marshland.

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