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| Southeast Asia | |
| Noose Tightens Around J.I. Terrorists, Says Official | |
| 2006-05-09 | |
| Cotabato City, 9 May (AKI) - The noose is tightening around the two Al-Qaeda franchised Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants who allegedly helped assemble the bombs that killed 202 people on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, high ranking Filipino security officials confirmed to Adnkronos International (Aki). Marine Brig. Gen. Ben Dolorfino, Philippine Army's Southern Command deputy commander, confirmed that the army is hot on the trail of Omar Patek and Dulmatin, two top Indonesians terrorists who have been hiding in the southern Philippines island of Mindanao for the last few years. "Our manhunts continue and although there are no major developments, the military has a general idea regarding their location," Dolorfino told AKI, declining to divulge the terrorist's presumed whereabouts so as not to preempt the Army operation. Dolorfino nonetheless confirmed that the anti-terror stance taken by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has probably forced the two Indonesians to abandon their Central Mindanao sanctuary and move south, towards the Zamboanga Peninsula and the islands of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. The MILF, the Philippines main Islamic rebel group, has time and time again refuted the accusation that it is sheltering terrorists in the forests within its controlled territory or that it has any links with terrorists organizations such as Jemaah Islamiyah, Al-Qaeda or the Abu Sayyaf.
The possibility of Dulmatin and Patek training new recruits was also suggested by Colonel Akmad Mamalinta, regional police commander in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). "I have been receiving persistent reports about their activities there. We believe they are training new recruits in the mountains of Munai. We have intensified our security to prevent possible attacks," Mamalinta told AKI. Mount Munai is located in the Mindanao's province of Lanao del Sur, some 820 kilometres southeast of Manila. The United States embassy spokesperson in Manila, Matthew Lussenhop also confirmed the presence of the two JI militants in Mindanao. "I do not know where they are but we believe that they are in Southern Philippines. They are both wanted and rewards are offered within the justice program that we have with the Philippine government," Lussenhop told AKI by phone. The US State Department has offered 10 million dollars for the capture of electronics expert Dulmatin and one million dollars for Patek. On February this year, Gijs de Vries a visiting official from the European Union told lawmakers at the House of Representatives in Manila that the presence of JI in the Mindanao region will be "extremely damaging" not only to the Philippines but also to its standing in the international community. "It's very important that JI is denied its opportunities for training, which they currently still enjoy," he said as quoted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah - which literally translated from Arabic means 'Islamic community' - is blamed for several deadly attacks in Southeast Asia, including the bombings on Indonesia's Bali Island in 2002 that killed 202 people. JI fights to reunite most of Southeast Asia into an Islamic state. | |
| Posted by:Steve |