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| Southeast Asia |
| Bakreâs still singing |
| 2004-06-09 |
| Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita disclosed that governmentâs anti-terrorism task force is currently interrogating suspected international terrorist Hassan Bakre, who was nabbed in Maguindanao, to find out plans of the al-Qaeda terrorist network of Osama bin Laden in the Philippines. He said initial tactical interrogation has been conducted on Bakre but the task force is still grilling him to uncover the plans of al-Qaeda in the country. This is the reason why the task force has not yet presented Bakre to the public. âThe usual practice is to conduct tactical interrogation. What we can extract from him. We might get information from him and find out who his companions are,â said Ermita. "They [al-Qaeda] might have plans for the projection of their activities outside Lanao or Maguindanao. These are the things we want to find out. We donât want to preempt it [terror plot], so thatâs the reason why he has not been presented,â Ermita added. A source earlier revealed that Bakre has admitted teaching some 500 Islamic students on bombing techniques at a Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) stronghold in Camp Omar in Datu Piang, Maguindanao. Bakre allegedly trained some terrorists at Mount Cararao in Lanao del Sur. It was not mentioned if among those he trained were fighters of the MILF. âThere was no such mention [about training of MILF fighters]. But of course as far as we are concerned, we just verify and validate the reports of the intelligence [community] that these people [foreign terrorists] are being coddled in MILF camps,â Ermita said. Ermita said the military is now tracking down about 30 to 40 associates of Bakre. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 grilling him, huh? Use a low flame |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-06-09 8:08:22 PM |