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| Southeast Asia |
| Ranking MILF member sez Rohmat's a spy |
| 2005-04-15 |
| A ranking leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) claimed Saturday that a recently arrested Indonesian with alleged links to the Jemaah Islamiyah was a "spy of the Philippines or the United States government." Muhammad Ameen, secretary to the office of MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, said the arrested Indonesian national Rohmat, alias Zaki, is "another deep penetration agent," or spy, of the Philippine military or the US Central Intelligence Agency tasked "to infiltrate the Abu Sayyaf." Ameen raised his belief in the wake of the treatment Rohman got later on. "Freely allowing Zaki to be interviewed on television few days after the military provoked controversy for their stiff opposition to interviews of 'terrorists' is highly suspicious," Ameen was quoted as saying in a report posted at the rebels' website. Earlier, Lieutenant General Edilberto Adan, Armed Forces of the Philippines deputy chief of staff, urged the media to shun from giving interviews to terrorists in line with the fight against terrorism. Ameen charged that Rohmat "have himself arrested to tell a story already scripted." Rohmat, who was arrested last month in Maguindanao, later appeared in national television and told his story. He admitted participation in the series of bomb attacks in the country last February 14--in the cities of Makati, Davao and General Santos--that left eight people dead and over 150 others injured. Rohmat claimed that he was around when Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Solaiman planned the Valentine's Day bomb attacks. The Abu Sayyaf further planned to bomb other places in Metro Manila and Mindanao, the suspect said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |