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| Southeast Asia |
| Philippines JI said to have suffered major setbacks |
| 2006-05-22 |
| The Jema'ah Islamiyah cell the country has suffered major setbacks, bringing it back to square one, according to national security intelligence sources. A source from the intelligence community who requested anonymity told The Manila Times that based on their assessment, "Mahina na ang cells ng JI" (The JI cells are weak). The terrorists he disclosed, are somewhere in Western Mindanao and are being relentlessly tracked down by government operatives. He attributed the frailty of the organizationÂ’s "field operators" to sustained police and military operations. "After the two attacks in Bali, they have been the subject of operations. They are not ready and are not, at this point, ready to wage a real jihad," the source said. "While they are still there, they have pulled back to the preparatory stage of their struggle," he added. The preparatory stage, he said, entails propagation of the terroristsÂ’ ideology, organizational development and capability build-up. "They have apparently decided to "pull back" on their offensives to ease the pressure on their organization," the intelligence source explained. The JI cells have temporarily folded for lack of funds, he added, claiming that the effective partnership of freedom-loving countries involved in the war against terror has denied the terrorist organization its resources. "Medyo hirap sila mag-access o mag-transfer ng funds," (They are finding it difficult to access or even transfer funds), the source stressed. He said that a confluence of factors, including the arrest of key players of the JI and its local counterparts, the Abu Sayyaf Group and the Rajah Sulaiman Revolutionary Movement (RSRM) as well as the seizure of valuable resources has placed the extremists the defensive. Once the ranking leaders who know the financial trail, are gone, their underlings in the field are at loss where to get the funds because the contacts are gone, the source said in Filipino. The last major attack perpetrated by the JI was in Bali in October last year where a series of blasts killed 25 people three restaurants in Jimbaran Beach, Bali and in Downtown Kuta. In the Philippines, the last known attack was on ValentineÂ’s Day last year on several targets in Makati, Davao and General Santos Cities which killed eight people and injured 150 others. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |