A suspected Muslim extremist told police interrogators he planted explosives in a television set on a ferry that caught fire last month, killing more than 100 people, a security official said Tuesday. President Arroyo earlier announced the arrest of Redendo Cain Dellosa, saying the Abu Sayyaf group member confessed to bombing the SuperFerry 14 on February 27 on Manila Bay. Dellosa was arrested with three other militants allegedly plotting a Madrid-style terror attack in Manila, Mrs. Arroyo said.
| These are the four guys they just grabbed. |
The al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf, which authorities believe has been decimated in recent US-backed military assaults in Mindanao, claimed responsibility for the ferry fire. Authorities have been reluctant to take the claim seriously, and no evidence has been found yet to suggest explosives were used. A marine board of inquiry has yet to publish its findings. If proven to be a terror attack, it would be the worst in Philippine history. Mrs. Arroyo said Dellosaâs confession will be part of an ongoing investigation into the incident. She said she was advised by officials not to disclose the arrests prematurely but went ahead anyway.
A top security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Dellosa, a Muslim convert, confessed after his recent arrest that âhe was passenger 51â and that he stashed trinitrotoluene (TNT) in a television set that he carried onto the ferry.
| Muslim converts get issued explosives along with their copy of the koran. |
The Abu Sayyaf earlier identified its âsuicide bomberâ as Arnulfo Alvarado and said he was in bunk 51. Chief Supt. Ismael Rafanan, National Police Intelligence Group chief, said Dellosa claimed he used the name Alvarado to get on the ship, and that two of the other detainees confirmed his account.
| So he was a suicide bomber who decided to pass on the 72 virgins for now? Smart move. You can get more than that in a weekend in Manila, if you can handle them. Only they're not virgins. |
At a marine board of inquiry hearing earlier this month, a safety supervisor with the shipâs owner, WG&A, testified that about 150 survivors told him the explosion took place in the tourist section, in the general area of bunk 51. The shipâs captain, Ceferino Manzo, testified in the same hearing that the entire tourist section was engulfed in âthick black smoke [that] smelled like gunpowder.â After planting the bomb in the passenger cabin, Dellosa said he escaped.
The bomb was part of a cache of explosives procured by Abu Sayyaf guerrillas for a terror cell in Manila, the official said. Police investigators fanned out in a number of provinces to verify Dellosaâs background, and discovered he was linked to Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani, the official said, without elaborating.
| "I can say no more! And I wish Gloria had kept her trap shut as well." |
Officials said earlier that no equipment or chemicals were on board the ferry that could have accidentally exploded. Manzo told the inquiry that the explosion couldnât have come from vehicles aboard, and it wasnât from an electrical or air-conditioning malfunction.
| I guess Redendo is telling the truth. So kill him. |
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