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| Southeast Asia |
| Manila on alert for Abu Sayyaf |
| 2004-03-28 |
| The National Capital Region Police Office and the military’s NCR Command placed their units on heightened alert Sunday as they joined a nationwide manhunt for the capture of six suspected members of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group who reportedly eluded arrest during a raid on their hideout in Quezon City. Director Ricardo de Leon, Metro Manila police chief, said the police teams and military units were placed on high alert while the suspected terrorists are being tracked down. On Friday six ASG alleged members identified as Jayud Santos, Abdul Akman, Muslim Carino, Lalib Trinidad, Akman Lunada and Damund Muslin del Rosario managed to escape after policemen raided their safe house on 50 Purdue Street corner Ermin Garcia Street in Quezon City. During the raid, the police arrested Fatima Santos, a sister of one of the suspects, who was undergoing interrogation at the general headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City. The police seized from the safehouse an M-4 Carbine rifle, two rocket-propelled grenades and a container of assorted ammunition, which are now in the custody of the Central Police District, the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency for safekeeping. All three law-enforcement agencies, de Leon said, are now reviewing the evidence, which also include videos, compact discs and other data-storing equipment containing information on terrorist activities. Members of the ASG were reportedly in Metro Manila to bomb shopping malls and the Metro Rail Transit. De Leon admitted that ASG posed a serious threat to national security so the policemen and the military have been put on alert for an extended period, including the Holy Week, which starts on April 4. He said more police foot patrol and soldiers would be fielded around in commercial places to protect the public from possible terrorist attacks. A military source claimed that some members of the al-Qaeda-linked and Asian-based Jema’ah Islamiyah terrorist network were in Metro Manila, and they might have coordinated with the six suspected ASG members who eluded arrest in undertaking a series of bombings. De Leon said police and military intelligence operatives were at work, trying to track down ASG members to preempt the bomb plot. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted] |
| Posted by: Anonymous TROLL 2004-03-28 6:05:12 PM |
| #1 [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted] |
| Posted by: Anonymous3402 TROLL 2004-03-28 5:53:24 PM |