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Janjalani may be based in Jolo, planning attacks
THE leader of an Al-Qaeda-linked terror group may be hiding out on a violent southern Philippine island and pose a threat when US troops hold joint military exercises with Filipino soldiers there next month, officials said Monday.Abu Sayyaf leader Khaddafy Janjalani, who is on Washington's list of wanted terrorists, may have fled to Jolo island with his men late last year to escape a monthslong military offensive in nearby Maguindanao province, according to security officials monitoring his movement. The terror group, blamed for deadly bomb attacks and ransom kidnappings in the Philippines, is regarded as the primary threat to the US troops during the upcoming drills on Jolo, said Marine Brigadier General Ben Dolorfino. Some of the group's victims have been Americans. Dolorfino said the military was trying to confirm reports of Janjalani's presence there. Two other security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said there were strong indications Janjalani had joined the group of guerrillas led by Radulan Sahiron, a one-armed militant hiding in the island's rain forest near Patikul. Security for the Americans during the drills has been a nagging concern on Jolo, considered a no man's land because of a surfeit of unlicensed guns, frequent bloodshed and a bitter history with US forces. Muslim villagers in Jolo oppose the drills, which will focus on medical missions, construction of schools and public works projects like excavating wells. The locals still talk about a violent campaign to quell native islanders resisting US rule in the early 1900s. The exercises in Jolo are part of a larger group of exercises called "Balikatan" that are taking place throughout the Philippines. In Jolo, at least 250 American military personnel will join a larger Philippine military contingent. The exercises start February 20. The Jolo faction of a larger Muslim rebel group that signed a peace accord with the government in 1996, the Moro National Liberation Front, has pledged not to disrupt the US exercises and offered to provide security for the Americans, he said. Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-01-24 |
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