| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Abu Sayyaf planning new attacks |
| 2006-02-03 |
| AL QAEDA-linked Muslim militants are plotting fresh attacks in Manila almost a year after blowing up a bus in the capital's financial district, killing four people, a state prosecutor said Friday. Justice Department prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco said the latest plot was uncovered with the help of a former Abu Sayyaf member who turned state witness during a trial last year that ended with death sentences for an Indonesian and two Filipinos for their role in the Feb. 14, 2005 bus bombing. "Their plan is to strike on or before February 14 to show they are still a force to reckon with, to say that even if our people are in jail, we can strike," Velasco told The Associated Press. He refused to disclose details of the plot, but said three would-be attackers were identified by the witness, Gappal Bannah, through surveillance photographs. He said he had filed a case of rebellion against them and was waiting for a judge to issue arrest warrants. Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, hiding in the remote jungles of the southern Philippines, are notorious for ransom kidnappings and bomb attacks, which have targeted Filipinos and Americans. The group, which numbers about 300 men, is on a US list of terrorist organizations and Washington has offered rewards for information leading to the capture of its leaders. Scores of militants already have been killed or arrested in US-backed military operations. Later this month, about 250 American troops will start month-long military training of Filipino soldiers on southern Jolo Island, a guerrilla stronghold. The Abu Sayyaf had claimed responsibility for the Feb. 14, 2005 bombing in Manila's Makati financial district, as well as two other bomb attacks in two southern towns the same day, in retaliation for a military offensive. An Indonesian man, Rohmat, who confessed to membership in the regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, was sentenced to death last year for the attack, along with two Filipinos, Gamal Baharan and Abu Khalil Trinidad. Authorities say several dozen Indonesian militants have been training Abu Sayyaf guerrillas in bombmaking. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |