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| Southeast Asia |
| Philippine military gets ready for reprisal attacks |
| 2007-01-22 |
| MILITARY intelligence agents went on high alert yesterday to thwart revenge attacks by Muslim extremists after the government confirmed the death of the leader of the Abu Sayyaf group. Security forces were monitoring urban centers, especially in southern Mindanao, where members of the Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiyah network are known to operate, a military spokesman said. “Intelligence [are] monitoring to prevent any retaliatory attacks,” Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said over dzBB radio. The warning came a day after the military announced that DNA tests carried out by US investigators confirmed that a body recovered in December in Jolo was that of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani. But President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered the military to be vigilant and deal the terrorists the “final blow”—even as the United States praised the Philippines for Janjalani’s death. “Perpetual vigilance is indeed the price of freedom, and we must never let our guard down,” Mrs. Arroyo said. “We must continue to destroy the spawning grounds of terror by a combined strategy of grassroots vigilance, economic development, interfaith solidarity and international cooperation,” she said. “The death of Khaddafy Janjalani is an important and positive step forward in the ultimate goal of eliminating the ruthless and dangerous Abu Sayyaf group, and in destroying its links with international terrorist groups such as the Jemaah Islamiyah, the US embassy in Manila said in a statement. “The US will continue to work with partners in the Philippines’ military, law enforcement, and national and local governments to bring terrorists to justice and to build peace and prosperity in Mindanao and throughout the Philippines,” the embassy said. Armed Forces Chief Hermogenes Esperon described the confirmation of Janjalani’s death as “hitting the jackpot,” and that was because it ended speculations that the body that the military had dug up in Jolo last month was not that of Southeast Asia’s most wanted man. Janjalani, also known as the Emir, became the overall leader of the Al Qaida-linked group when his brother, Abubakar Abdurajak Janjalani, was killed by police in 1998. The elder Janjalani founded the Abu Sayyaf in the early 1990s to fight for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao. At one time, he allegedly received financing from Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaida network. Under the younger Janjalani’s leadership, the Abu Sayyaf adopted terror tactics, specializing in kidnappings for ransom and bombings. Together with another top Abu Sayyaf leader, Abu Solaiman, Janjalani masterminded the kidnapping deaths of two US citizens in 2001 and the firebombing of a ferry on Manila Bay that left over 100 dead. The military said it killed Solaiman last week, creating a “leadership vacuum,” Bacarro said. “They have a leadership vacuum now and are disorganized. We will take the advantage by keeping up the tempo and continuing the operations against them,” he said. He said it would take some time for the scattered Abu Sayyaf members to regroup under one command, but conceded desperate militants could stage random attacks. More than 5,000 troops are scouring the dense jungles of Jolo for remnants of the Abu Sayyaf, who are also believed to be protecting wanted Jemaah Islamiyah bomb experts Dulmatin and Umar Patek, wanted for the October 2002 bombings in Bali. The Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah are both on the US watch list of foreign terrorist organizations. US forces are providing intelligence backup to their Filipino counterparts in Jolo. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Nope, nope, the North are too good at killing their enemy and besides half the Senate is NPA. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2007-01-22 08:50 |
| #1 “We must continue to destroy the spawning grounds of terror by a combined strategy of grassroots vigilance, economic development, interfaith solidarity and international cooperation” At least in the south. GMA won't anger the Philippine Left by going after the ones in the north. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2007-01-22 00:31 |