| THE governmentâs antiterrorism operations have isolated the Jemaah Islamiah terrorists, a top security official said on Friday. Acting National Security Adviser Victor Mayo said the scheduled resumption of peace negotiations with the government next month has prompted the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front to distance itself from JI terrorists seeking refuge in MILFâs Central Mindanao camps. On top of it, the arrest of Taufec Refke, JIâs liaison officer in the country, and the killing in October last year of Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, another JI operative, have driven many JI terrorists out of the country, Mayo said. âThis is an honest-to-goodness assessment by our intelligence units. The JI here are being isolated and they no longer have the protection they need,â he said in a phone interview. Mayo was reacting to radio reports that an undetermined number of JI members have fled Mindanao and are now hiding in Muslim communities in Metro Manila and other nearby provinces. However, he said intelligence agents from the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police have yet to confirm the radio reports. âThese are only raw information,â Mayo said. âThere has been no confirmation of this.â He said that before 2002, an undetermined number of JI terrorists were able to train in Mindanao, particularly in Camp Abu Bakar, the largest MILF camp which was overrun by the military in 2000. Among the graduates of these training activities were al-Ghozi and Refke. The military believes a big number of the graduates had already left the country through its southern backdoor. |