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| Southeast Asia |
| MILF sez Rohmat is a US or Filippino agent |
| 2005-04-03 |
| A ranking leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) claimed Saturday that a recently arrested Indonesian with alleged links to the Jemaah Islamiyah was a "spy of the Philippine or the United States governments." Muhammad Ameen, secretary to the office of MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, said the arrested Indonesian national Rohmat, alias Zaki, is "another deep penetration agent" or spy of the Philippine military or the US Central Intelligence Agency tasked "to infiltrate the Abu Sayyaf." Ameen based his claim on the treatment Rohman got after his arrest. "Freely allowing Zaki to be interviewed on television a few days after the military provoked controversy for their stiff opposition to interviews of 'terrorists' is highly suspicious," Ameen was quoted as saying in a report posted at the rebels' website. Earlier, Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan, Armed Forces of the Philippines deputy chief of staff, urged the media to shun giving interviews to suspected terrorists in line with the fight against terrorism. Ameen charged that Rohmat "had himself arrested to tell a story already scripted." Rohmat, who was arrested last month in Maguindanao, later appeared to tell his story on national television. He claimed to have participated in the series of bomb attacks in the country last February 14 in the cities of Davao, General Santos and Makati that left eight people dead and over 150 others injured. Rohmat claimed he was around when Abu Sayyaf chief Khadaffy Janjalani and Abu Sayyaf spokesperson Abu Solaiman planned the Valentine's Day bomb attacks. Rohmat also claimed the Abu Sayyaf has more plans to bomb places in Metro Manila and Mindanao, the suspect said. Military officials said then that Rohmat trained members of the Abu Sayyaf in bomb-making. Ameen's claim that the US government has spies in Mindanao was not the first. Early this year, Senator Aquilino Pimentel, who hails from Mindanao, said there are a number of spies allegedly deployed by the US government in Mindanao. American embassy officials immediately denied the senator's claim. US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone told MindaNews in an interview in February tthat he "never said such thing" as the US having 70 military spies running around Mindanao. "What I am saying is we have about 70 soldiers temporarily in Zamboanga. Sometimes they venture out.. but their main mission is Ops-Intel fusion. Ops-Intel-fusion is not spying. It is working in a rural area linking up computers, linking up data from the United States, from outside, money laundering, profile of bad guys, identities, fingerprints, photos, locally available
putting it together and making it available
" Ameen dismissed charges that the MILF has links with the Jemaah Islamiya and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda. "This is an old story being kept alive to destroy the MILF as a revolutionary organization," Ameen said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |