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| Southeast Asia |
| Terrorism growing in Mindanao |
| 2005-03-03 |
| Contacts between Philippine Islamic extremists and their international counterparts are growing, as shown by the increased sophistication of bombs used in recent terror attacks, the president's top spokesman said Wednesday. Intelligence reports have long suggested that the deadly Abu Sayyaf group and other local Islamic extremist groups have links to al-Qaida and the Southeast Asia regional terror network, Jemaah Islamiyah. "There are signs that these contacts are becoming closer, and they are able to exploit situations like the conflict in Sulu at a moment's notice," Silvestre Afable told The Associated Press. He noted that after a major military offensive against Abu Sayyaf and their compatriots on Sulu province's Jolo island, Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility for a trio of bombs that went off in Manila and two other cities on Feb. 14, killing eight people and wounding more than 100 others. Two suspected Abu Sayyaf members have been arrested for the attack on a bus in Manila's financial district, with one tearfully admitting involvement during a TV interview. While the regional Jemaah Islamiyah reportedly has a constant presence in the country's troubled south, officials believe it is largely providing training instead of calling the shots, said Afable, communications director for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. "And training means training in making bombs," he said. The government also is concerned about new groups - particularly former Christians who have converted to Muslim fundamentalism - that have joined the bloody Islamic insurgency, he said. "The common denominator is still Islam, and when Islam is involved in a conflict anywhere in the country, you have these groups coming out of the woodwork and planting bombs, making trouble, because they feel that they can advance their cause at the time," Afable said. "Their propaganda is becoming more sophisticated now." Several suspected Jemaah Islamiyah members have been arrested in the country. Officials say they have broken up some of the group's key financial conduits and about 20 Indonesian members were largely on the run in the country's south. But the arrests of three suspected members - two Indonesians and a Malaysian - in southern Zamboanga city in December alarmed security officials because they appeared to be members of a previously unknown terror cell and carried $7,000 to finance possible terrorist training and attacks. "As to what triggers ... these bombing activities, I think they do these more on an autonomous basis and we do not see that there is a very strong hand, a centralized command of JI giving commands to these groups to do this thing on this day, in this place," Afable said, referring to Jemaah Islamiyah by its initials. Afable also said the government was very concerned about the rise of new groups, particularly the so-called Balik-Islam composed of Christian converts. He called it dangerous because "it lends a new facet to their (Islamic extremists) claim for legitimacy" and makes people want to know why young Christians have become terrorists. Afable, who is also the chief government negotiator in peace talks with the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said the long-term issue is addressing the root causes of the insurgency. The keys, he said, are easing the south's wrenching poverty while ensuring that former combatants switch to a constructive role in building the region. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |