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| Southeast Asia |
| Philippines ending hunt for Janjalani |
| 2005-09-23 |
| The Philippine military will soon end its three-month-old hunt for the country's most wanted Islamic militant in part of the southern island of Mindanao, a senior defence official said on Thursday. The failure to capture Khaddafy Janjalani, the leader of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Group, appears to be a setback for the United States, which has poured millions of dollars into training and equipping Philippine troops to fight Islamic militants. The defence official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters that Philippine troops would give up their search in Maguindanao province by the end of September following complaints from local Muslim communities. "We're not giving up our efforts to hunt down Janjalani," the defence official told Reuters. "But there is a more urgent need to avoid the undue and prolonged displacement of local communities in affected areas." He said the military would rely on a commitment by the country's largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), to help isolate and capture radical militants in the areas it controls, which include swathes of Maguindanao. "It's about time the army operations stopped," said Eid Kabalu, a spokesman for the MILF, which last week resumed informal peace talks with the government. "They only asked us for a 72-hour window to run after the Abu Sayyaf but it had gone too long. There must be an end because our people are suffering." Army commanders have said several times that they were close to capturing Janjalani, who is believed to be leading the group back to its Islamic militant roots after it gained notoriety for a series of kidnappings-for-ransom in recent years. The group claimed responsibility for the country's worst terror attack in February 2004 when a bomb crippled a ferry near Manila, killing more than 100 people, and for coordinated bombings in Manila and Mindanao in February that killed 10. Security officials blamed the Abu Sayyaf for bomb attacks last month in and near Zamboanga City in Mindanao, saying the group may have been trying to relieve military pressure. A U.S. embassy spokesman said he was unaware of any change in Philippine army operations in Mindanao. "I have not heard any announcement on this action," said press attache Matthew Lussenhop. "They may be ending one part of any operation, but our role here is to train, advise and assist the Armed Forces of the Philippines in order to develop counter-terrorism capability." Security analysts say the United States is keen to capture Janjalani to show some return on the assistance it has given the cash-strapped Philippine army in Mindanao, where a small number of U.S. troops are based. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |