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| Southeast Asia |
| Filippinos looking for Abu Sayyaf sleeper cells |
| 2005-03-09 |
| Philippine military intelligence agents have been deployed in Muslim communities around Manila to ferret out "sleeper cells" of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants, an official said Tuesday. Lieutenant General Allan Cabalquinto, head of a military unit guarding Manila, said agents were now monitoring certain groups in Maharlika village and in Culiat, home to large Muslim communities. Muslims in the old shopping district of Quiapo meanwhile were "under the watch of the police." "We are monitoring the Maharlika village, that is the ready hideout of the Abu Sayyaf," Cabalquinto told reporters. "Terrorists depend a lot on sleeper cells. They cannot bring a new face here." The man who supplied the explosives used in the bombing of a bus in Manila's Makati financial district last month and his accomplice allegedly hid in Maharlika village to elude arrest. They were later captured by the authorities and are now in tight military detention. Both men were linked to the Abu Sayyaf, which said the attacks were in retaliation for the government's anti-insurgency campaign. Two other bombs also exploded on the same day in the southern Philippines and up to 12 people were killed in the three bombings. Authorities earlier said that an Abu Sayyaf cell with at least 10 members were still at large in Manila and were being hunted down. "The recent arrests (of their accomplices) have caused them to disperse," he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |