Manila: A joint military and police operation resulted in the arrest of a local terrorist whose group was blamed for six deadly bombings in the southern Philippines, including a bar and on a motorcycle which killed an American serviceman in 2002, and in a hotel that killed three and injured 27 this week, authorities said.

Hussein Ahaddin, 38, also known as Abu Tiih, and a motorcycle driver, was arrested in an urban lair of the Abu Sayyaf Group in the southern Philippines late Tuesday, said Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., head of President Benigno Aquino's Anti-terrorism Council.

Ahaddin was presented to reporters, but was not allowed to give a statement.

Ahaddin was found after government forces pursued those who were responsible for the bombing that killed three and injured 27 others, and damaged the Atilano Pension House in Zamboanga City last Sunday, Ochoa said.

Two others were arrested earlier, and gave clues as to who were responsible for the attack at the Atilano Pension House, resulting in the arrest of Ahaddin, said Zamboanga Mayor Celso Lobregat in a radio interview.

The pension house was bombed and razed to the ground with a device that used 22 pounds of ammonium nitrate and TNT powder, said Lobregat, adding the powerful bomb was the handiwork of the Abu Sayyaf Group.

Police established check points and intensified security to fortify Zamboanga City from terror attacks.

Meanwhile, his wife Harija told the Inquirer in the south, "My husband is a good person. He would not commit a crime to support his family."

He was arrested at his sister's house last Tuesday, said the wife, adding he might also be released since he was released twice following two arrest in 2009.

After his arrest, Ahaddin allegedly claimed responsibility for the bombing of a cockfighting gallery and a hotel on Zamboanga City last October. No one was killed but a dozen were wounded in the two simultaneous bombing incidents, an intelligence source said.

Ahaddin also admitted responsibility for the bombing of a department store, fruit stores, and a lottery outlet which killed one and injured six others in the south last October, said the source.

Ahaddin also admitted being behind the bombing in an entertainment park and on a motorcycle and a passenger bus which killed a total of seven people and injured 180 others, also in Zamboanga in October 2002, said the source.

One of those killed was a US serviceman who was involved in giving intelligence assistance to Filipino soldiers to track down the Abu Sayyaf members.

Another American soldier, among 25 others, was wounded in the bomb that was placed in a parked motorcycle, at the time.

The 400-strong Abu Sayyaf Group has links with Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian conduit of the Al Qaida terror network.

Al-Qaida had given funds to the group through non-government organizations that were established in the south in the late 1990s.

It has been blamed for kidnap-for-ransom, bombings, beheadings, and other terror activities mostly in the south.

It claimed responsibility for the bombing of a passenger ferry that sank and killed 100 at the Manila Bay in 2004.