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Police arrest LRT bomber, Muslim cleric
ZAMBOANGA CITY â Philippine security officials on Sunday arrested a man believed to be a ranking Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leader behind a Manila bomb attack that killed 22 people and wounded 100 others in December 2000. The Filipino in custody is believed to be Muklis Yunos, who was arrested along with an Egyptian Islamic missionary, near the southern city of Cagayan de Oro, where President Arroyo was expected to visit on Monday.
| Making sure the booms are in place? Maybe Gloria should go somewhere else Monday... |
The man was caught while about to board a flight to Manila with his face covered in bandages to disguise himself, the militaryâs southern command spokesman, Lt. Col. Renoir Pascua, said.
| He's been reading a few too many adventure novels... |
âThat is confirmed, a man believed to be Muklis Yunos was arrested today,â Pascua said, adding that both men were being interrogated at an undisclosed location. Intelligence officials believe Yunos is the head of the MILFâs âspecial operations groupâ thought to be behind a series of bombings in the South and in Manila in recent years. However, conflicting reports reaching Camp Crame identified the arrested suspects as Egyptian Algabre Mahmud and his companion Alex Soriano. Reports said that the two were arrested at around 7 a.m. while they were about to check-in for a Philippine Airlines flight bound for Manila. The report added that that Mahmud was escorting Soriano, who was wounded, when they were arrested by airport security elements. Soriano is reportedly included on the project list of the District Intelligence Unit 10.
| So it's not even a squeaky clean alias... |
The two were turned over to the custody of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and are now undergoing investigation.
At press time, it is unclear whether Yunos and Soriano are the same person.
| Betcha they are, though... |
An Indonesian terrorist, Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, confessed to Manila police last year that Yunos had helped him carry out the December 2000, bombings in Manila.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-05-25 |
