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| Southeast Asia |
| Arroyo wants Dulmatin, Patek hunted down |
| 2006-02-17 |
| PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the military to look into reports that the two top Al-Qaeda-linked Indonesian militants wanted by the US and other countries for the deadly 2002 Bali bombings could still be hiding in the southern Philippines. Arroyo issued the directive during a command conference of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) top brass in Malacañang Thursday morning. "She [Arroyo] tasked the intelligence units to look into this," military spokesman Tristan Kison told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo. Ric Blancaflor, head of the government's anti-terrorism task force, on Tuesday said authorities have kept up the hunt for Dulmatin and Umar Patek, key suspects in the nightclub bombings that killed 202 people on Indonesia's Bali island in 2002. The pair, who are top members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), reportedly fled to Mindanao to escape a nationwide manhunt in Indonesia. But nothing has been heard of them since a major military offensive that was believed to have driven Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, led by Khaddafy Janjalani, and the two Indonesians from southern Maguindanao province. "From our latest reports from the operational units, we have no reason to believe that they have left the country," said Blancaflor. Military intelligence estimates placed the strength of the JI in the country at 30, all of whom are in Mindanao. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |