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| Southeast Asia | |
| Philippine military searches for proof of slain terrorists | |
| 2012-02-03 | |
| On Friday, the Philippine military said it has not been able to gather proof that it killed three of Southeast Asia's most-wanted terrorists, but insisted the trio had died in a US-backed airstrike. Lieutenant Colonel Arnulfo Burgos said troops were sent to the isolated jungle area where Thursday's bombing took place on the remote southern island of Jolo, but did not find the bodies. He said the three senior leaders from the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) networks, as well as 12 others, had been taken away by fellow However he said the military was certain the trio had been killed based on intelligence assets. He said, "Yes, its an A-1 (information). We have something but we cannot divulge all the other information because its an operational (secret)." Burgos said Friday that security forces were confident of finding the bodies of the slain leaders, or at least evidence that would allow DNA confirmation. But efforts to search the remote jungle location were hampered by gunfire from the surviving The US military helped in Thursday's attack by providing intelligence support, according to military officials. Spokespeople at the US embassy in Manila did not comment on Thursday's attack, referring all questions to the Philippine military.
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| Posted by:ryuge |