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| Southeast Asia |
| MILF still protecting JI, Philippines military can't attack while peace talks are on |
| 2006-06-08 |
| Filipino armed forces cannot launch an attack against militants of the al-Qaeda linked Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) as they are being sheltered by the countryÂ’s largest Muslim rebel group - with which the government is currenty holding peace talks - a leading army general said Tuesday. About 30 Indonesian JI militants are hiding in the camps of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Mindanao Island, Army's Sixth Infantry Division chief Maj. Gen. Rodolfo Obaniana told Adnkronos International (AKI). "It's difficult for us to launch an offensive against them because they are protected by these rebels. We are avoiding a mis-encounter between soldiers and rebels but this can still happen in the future," Obaniana warned. "Our latest count of JI in Mindanao is 30. Ten of them are hiding in Central Mindanao region," the general added. Obaniana said the JI along with the Abu Sayyaf, led by Khadafi Janjalani, remains a serious threat to the country's security. However, he did not mention if the leaders of the 30 JI are Dulmatin and Omar Patek. The two fugitives terrorists, believed to be hiding in Mindanao, have bounties on their heads from the US State Department. Eid Kabalu, spokesperson for the MILF, denied the report, saying they are a revolutionary group and they did not need support from foreign organisations. "That's not true. In fact, since July last year, there were no JI monitored in our areas. If they want to launch operation, they should coordinate with our troop's task to interdict terror groups," he said to Aki. Last year, the Filipino government and MILF set up an Ad-hoc Joint Action Group, a team composed of police officers and five representatives from the MILF tasked to intercept terrorist and criminals in Mindanao. The MILF, the Philippines main Islamic rebel organization, has been fighting for an independent state in Mindanao since 1977. The group is currently holding peace talks with Manila. Based on a 2003 cease-fire, the talks are hosted by Malaysia and remain on track despite difficulties in the determination and delimitation of areas to be placed under a prospective Bangsamoro Juridical Entity, as the new MILF-controlled area is likely to be called. At the same time, Kabalu shrugged off claims of Malaysian authorities that a Malaysian militant group called Darul Islam helped Patek and Dulmatin flee to Mindanao after the Bali bombing in 2002. "There are no other groups except Abu Sayyaf facilitating the entry of JI in Mindanao," Kabalu pointed out. "I think Darul Islam could be just a 'title' to make the issue bigger. There are many groups of Darul Islam. Apparently, they (Malaysian authorities, ndr) are pointing to the group to Abu Sayyaf," he said. Malaysian police officials said Dulmatin and Umar Patek were among seven Indonesians who slipped into Mindanao with the help of a group called Darul Islam between 2003 and March 2006. Darul Islam, which literally translates into 'abode of Islam,' was the name of the first Indonesian militant group, which fought for an Islamic state in central Java in the early fifties. By 1962, the Indonesian Darul Islam had been defeated by the Indonesian government and its main leaders had been captured and killed. However, according to the Brussel-based think tank International Crisis Group, off-shoots of the Darul Islam have been at the heart of most Islamic terrorist movements that have sprung out in Southeast Asia in the last decades, including Jemaah Islamiyah. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Commies protecting the Radical Islamists, ergo only the Radical Muslims attacked Manila - move along, boyz, nothing extraordinary here!? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-06-08 21:32 |