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| Southeast Asia |
| Abu Sayyaf flees Manila after raid on safe house in Marikina City |
| 2006-05-03 |
| Sleeper cells belonging to the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf had moved out of the Philippine capital following last week's raid on a suspected safehouse in Marikina City, a police intelligence official said Tuesday. "The group who owned the grenades and explosive materials in Marikina is out of Luzon at the moment. We see no specific threat from this group," said Sr. Supt. Romeo Ricardo, officer-in-charge of the PNP Intelligence Group (IG). "Most of them have left Luzon... there are one or two members left but they cannot act by themselves," Ricardo added. Ricardo refused to elaborate on where the sleeper cells had fled to and how they managed to elude pursuing intelligence operatives. Police had said that there were 10 sleeper cells in the metropolis. On Thursday, elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CI-DG) seized a cache of explosive materials from a suspected Abu Sayyaf hideout at the SSS village. Officials had said that the explosives were intended for the crowds expected to take the streets for the Labor Day protests scheduled on Monday. But Ricardo admitted that the supposed bomb plot was not mentioned in documents and computer files that were seized along with the explosives from the rebel lair. "Nothing was detailed regarding targets and plans. There is nothing in the diskette," he said. Ricardo said that two Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) operatives involved in the October 2002 Bali bombings - Umar Patek and Dulmatin - are still in southern Philippines tagging along with Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani. On whether the trio could struck again, Ricardo said: "That's quite possible... what else will they do but plan." The Abu Sayyaf and the JI last struck in the capital on February 14, 2005, when a bomb exploded inside a passenger bus in Makati City, killing four people and injuring scores others. Four others were killed while dozens were hurt in near simultaneous attacks in the cities of Davao and General Santos in the southern Philippines. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |