Philippine authorities said yesterday they arrested a key leader of the Abu Sayyaf guerrilla group, in the process foiling a plot by Moro gunmen linked to Osama bin Laden to bomb Manila.

Mohammad Faisal Ijajil was arrested in Manila last week while plotting to "conduct bombing operations," police deputy intelligence chief Senior Superintendent Jaime Caringal said.

Ijajil, who has a one million peso ($20,000) bounty on his head, was also wanted for murder and kidnapping, Mabanta said.

"We have reason to believe that he heads the Manila-based ASG (Abu Sayyaf group) cell," Mabanta said, adding that Ijajil also maintained a 15-man group operating in the southern island of Basilan.

Between 1994 and 1995, Ijajil travelled to the Middle East, Pakistan and Bangladesh on an unspecified religious mission, Mabanta said.

The Abu Sayyaf, or "Bearer of the Sword," is a small group of self-styled Moro freedom fighters said by Philippine authorities to have links with Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 terror attacks that killed more than 6,000 in New York and Washington.

Faisal Ijajil was formerly known as Espital Ijajil when he was a student in 1991. In 1994, he changed his name to Faisal Abbas when he joined a Basilan based Abu Sayyaf group led by Barahama Sail.

He participated in the raid of Ipil town in Zambaonga in 1995, the kidnapping of the grandson of Isabela mayor in 1996, the killing of Haj Moner Said in Tipo Tipo, Basilan in 1998.

He has maintained some 15 armed personnel in the Sampinit complex, Zamboanga.

With the help of Abu Sayyaf leader Mumar Asanin, he maintained the Manila-Basilan Abu Sayyaf pipeline as well as the collection of intelligence in Metro Manila, the Army said.

Ijalil had been to the Middle East for several missions. From September 1994 to January 1995, he went to Raiwin, Lahore, Pakistan. From May 1999 to December 2000, he went to Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India.

Our Manila Bureau Chief adds: Leaders of the Abu Sayyaf will be turned over to the United States if it has a case against them, Philippine authorities said.

"The U.S. government can file criminal cases against some members of a group which has kidnapped American nationals," said National Security Council head Roilo Golez.

The U.S. is now in the process of building a case against the Abu Sayyaf, said Golez, adding the turn-over will have to follow a judicial process based on the Philippine-U.S. extradition treaty.

The group kidnapped two American Christian missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and claimed to have executed a third American, Guillermo Sobero of California.