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| Southeast Asia |
| Philippines, Muslim rebels to inspect suspected JI training camps |
| 2004-08-12 |
| The Philippine government and Muslim separatist rebels plan to jointly inspect suspected training camps of the regional terrorist group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) in the southern region of Mindanao, an official said on Thursday. Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the inspection was part of efforts to gather more information on the presence and activities of JI in Mindanao, where the group was reported to betraining locals in terror operations. He said the ceasefire committees of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were planning a joint trip to Mount Kararao, a suspected lair of JI on the boundary of Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao provinces. JI, considered as the regional arm of al-Qaeda, has been held responsible for the worst terror attacks in Southeast Asia, including the October 2002 bombings that killed more than 200 people on the popular Indonesian resort island of Bali. Ermita said the proposed inspection of Kararao also aims to determine if the MILF has really taken steps to flush out JI militants from the area amid intelligence reports that some of its commanders were coddling the terrorists. "We have not been able to penetrate the area and JI has taken advantage of that situation," he told a forum with the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines. "What we are doing now is intensifying our intelligence gathering." |
| Posted by:Fred |