Military arrests JI member De Ocampo

Manila: The military arrested a former communist leader who had become a member of the Al Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and who had been operating in the southern Philippines, a senior officer said.

Giovanni De Ocampo was arrested after a clash with government soldiers in a hide out in Napnapan village, Pantukan town, Compostela Valley province, 930 kilometres south of Manila on Sunday, Major General Reynaldo Mapagu said in a report yesterday.

De Ocampo, a former member of the communist New People's Army, was handed over to the Pantukan town police station for the filing of a charge of illegal possession of firearms and explosives yesterday, Mapagu said.

De Ocampo was with four companions who managed to elude arrest, said Mapagu. He did not identify De Ocampo's companions or say when De Ocampo had become a JI member.

- With inputs by Rafael Juan, Correspondent