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| Terror Networks |
| Filipino police arrest 9 al-Qaida suspects |
| 2002-05-04 |
| Authorities raided a suspected al-Qaida-linked terrorist training camp at an Islamic school in the northern Philippines and seized weapons following a clash in which nine militants were arrested. Police said the camp was linked to al-Qaida but not to the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim rebel group in the southern Philippines with ties to the terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden. Police didn't explain why they believed the camp was connected with al-Qaida. Just off the top of my head, I'd guess Jemaah Islamiyah. The camp was discovered on Friday based on intelligence from a suspected Islamic militant captured after a clash on Thursday in Anda, in Pangasinan province north of Manila, police said. The camp was in an Islamic school in a mountainous area in Tarlac province bordering Pangasinan. Police said they confiscated high-caliber firearms, nine grenades, a grenade launcher, a night- vision telescope, a revolver and several unspecified documents at the camp. It's a pattern now. Where there's a madrassah, there are gunnies, guns and bombs. Police chief Reynaldo Berroya, who led the operation, said Thursday's clash followed a gunfight on Wednesday in which police investigating a report of armed men came under fire near the training camp. One of the gunmen in Thursday's firefight was killed by police and nine were arrested, including two suspected training camp caretakers. Police said the suspected Islamic militants had no known connection with any Muslim extremist groups in the southern Philippines. Abu Sayyaf's a dead letter. They've probably written it off by now. MNLF is broken into factions, and MILF is active, but lying low until the Saudis send them more money and guns. Time for a new seed to be planted. Police said one of the arrested militants claimed the group had been sent to cause havoc in Tarlac city on the May Day holiday, adding that they were new recruits who had been linked to the gunmen in Wednesday's clash. "One of the guys we interrogated told us this group is trying to build a stronger presence" in the northern Philippine island of Luzon, Berroya said. Sent from where, I wonder? First guess would be Indonesia, since Singapore and Malaysia have cracked down and Indonesia refuses to do so. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |