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Source: Terrorist special ops group formed ahead of Phillipine papal visit
 [InterAksyon] A source from Philippine National Police intelnligence said a newly-formed jihadist group, suspected to be led by Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)-trained Abdul Basit Usman, is in Luzon ahead of the five-day visit of Pope Francis this January 2015.The group is apparently a 15-man so-called Special Operations Group (SOG), the source said. The SOG is claimed to be comprised of members of the Al Hansar Khilafa, which is said to have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The source said that the deployment of the SOG from Usman's Group started last June, and may have something to do with the Pope's forthcoming visit. He said the formation of Usman's group, called the "Bangsamoro Justice Movement (BJM)" may have been disrupted after the arrest of Khair Mundos this June and that of Ricardo Ayeras of the Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM). Mundos, a key leader of the ASG, was suspected to be casing possible routes to be taken by the pontiff when he visits the country from January 15 to 19, while Ayeras was nabbed by the police in Quezon City early last month over a simple traffic violation. The source estimated that the combat strength of the Al Hansar Khilafa could be as many as 60 men. He said, "Their members come from the Rajah Solaiman Movement-Abu Sayyaf Group of the Isnilon Hapilon faction and Usman's former men with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)," adding that there are also some members from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in the Al Hansar Khilafa, with three members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) also making up the other members of the group. The source added that the members of Usman's SOG are in Luzon, with some of them possibly in Metro Manila and in the Southern Tagalog Region and all of them well trained in handling explosives. A separate intelligence source had said earlier that the terror cell in Luzon is headed by an Islamic cleric from Bangladesh. He said four foreigners who joined the Bangladeshi cleric had just come from Cotabato where they were believed to have also trained militants in bomb-making and explosives handling. Posted by: ryuge 2014-11-18 |
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