AN Islamic militant group has warned the Philippines of a fresh wave of terror attacks in the capital despite the arrest of six of its members linked to a foiled bomb plot. "The queue is long, we will not run out of bombers," the Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani as saying. "This is our global contribution to fulfill our obligation in defending Islam," another Abu Sayyaf leader, Abu Soliman, told the Inquirer in a separate interview. The government says Soliman is the alias of Jainal Antel Sali, a senior Abu Sayyaf leader. The group has mounted a bombing and kidnapping campaign in the southern Philippines.
The daily said Soliman issued several demands - the release of detained comrades as well as Islamic militants detained by the United States in Guantanamo, Cuba, the expulsion of Christians from all Muslim lands in the Philippines and foreign troops from the Arabian peninsula.
| That would seem to imply a similar obligation to expel all Muslims from Europe, North America, most of Asia, all of Australia, and most of Africa, wouldn't it? |
Military spokesman Lieutenant-General Daniel Lucero dismissed the Abu Sayyaf claim. Commenting on the Abu Sayyaf's capability to mount "shaheed" or martyrdom operations in the Philippines, Lucero said one of the detained alleged bombers told police investigators that "they have not reached that level of ideological sophistication." He said the Abu Sayyaf, despite evidence that "they had received financial support" from the al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah (JI) groups in the past, had been mostly engaged in kidnappings and extortion. However, he conceded it was "possible" that the Abu Sayyaf might be acting in return for aid from the JI or al-Qaeda.
| I thought Robot said they were getting training from Indonesian terrorist chiefs, a clear reference to JI. I doubt that give away that kind of training for free, meaning that Abu Sayyaf has to keep snuffing kufr in return for all of the how-to courses. |
US Special Forces advisers have been helping Filipino troops root out Abu Sayyaf units in the Muslim-populated southern Philippines, and Lucero said this could be forcing the guerrillas into relocating their sphere of operations. "Because of the relentless operations in Basilan and Sulu (island groups in the south) there seems to be an environment of fear among members," he said. |