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Terror Networks
Al-Ghozi sez he was behind PI bombing attack
2002-02-27
An Indonesian man authorities suspect is a major figure in a militant group linked to al-Qaida said he was behind a bombing attack that killed 22 people in Manila 14 months ago.
Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi
, arrested in the Philippine capital last month, had said in a sworn statement that he obtained funds to finance the Dec. 30, 2000 attack -- five nearly simultaneous bomb blasts -- from a Malaysian-based leader of the extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Questioned by prosecutors Wednesday, he said the bombings were his idea. "The truth is I planned the bombings," said Al-Ghozi. He revised his sworn statement, repeating that he plotted the bombings along with local and foreign Muslim extremists but saying he suggested the attack as retaliation for a Philippine military offensive against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Al-Ghozi, 31, has not been formally charged in the bomb attacks on a train, a bus, an abandoned gasoline station, an airport parking area and a park. More than 120 people were injured. Al-Ghozi said he plotted the bombings with Hadji Onos, also known as Muklis, whom he identified as a Filipino belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, as well as other Filipino Muslims, an Indonesian named Riduan Isamuddin and a man named Fais, based in Malaysia.
It seems al-Ghozi was a major player in the Jamaah Islamiya network. Be interesting to explore its links with MILF.
Posted by:Fred Pruitt
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