THE police and military authorities in Zamboanga City disclosed that one of the three suspects in last Sunday's bombings in the city is a bomb expert of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf bandits. Superintendent Jonathan Perez, officer-in-charge of the Zamboanga City Police Office on Wednesday made the announcement after the identity of one of the three suspects has been established through the joint efforts of his office, 9th Regional Mobile Group (9thRMG)) led by Senior Superintendent Lurimer Detran and Task Force Zamboanga (TFZ) headed by Colonel Darwin Guerra. Perez identified one of the suspects in last Sunday's bombing as Joel Salem alias Abu Madja, an Abu Sayyaf bomb expert. Perez said Salem's identity was established following an intelligence fusion by the police and military forces stationed in Zamboanga City. He said Salem is under the group of Isnilon Hapilon, one of the bandit leaders wanted by the US government for the killing and kidnapping of two American citizens in 2001. Citing intelligence report, Perez disclosed that Salem has undergone explosive-making training in Central Mindanao and Sulu provinces. He said Salem and some companions were spotted sometime in February this year in one of the malls downtown "apparently looking for possible targets."
One of Salem's companions was arrested last month by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in front of the Philippine National Red Cross-Zamboanga City chapter compound along Pettit Barracks downtown, Perez said. He added that composite police and military teams were deployed to hunt Salem and his cohorts, while appropriate charges will be filed against the suspects. "They have no place in Zamboanga City," Perez added.