Top militants seek to found new group

Manila: The top three Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) members are with 20 to 30 suspected JIs who are in the southern Philippines, allegedly to establish a militant group that would soon call for the establishment of an independent Islamic region in Southeast Asia, intelligence officials told Gulf News.

One of them is Noordin Top, a known JI strategist and the alleged head of a new group called Tanzim Qaedat Al Jihad (Urbanisation for the base of Jihad). It is believed to be a JI-clone group, said an intelligence official who requested anonymity.

Top has also allegedly forged an alliance with Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani.

At the same time, two other JI operatives, Umar Patek and Dulmatin, are in close contact with Janjalani in Mindanao, Sr Supt Romeo Ricardo, of the Philippine National Police Intelligence Group, said.

When asked if they have a major plan in Metro Manila or in the south, Ricardo said: "That's quite possible - what else will they do but plan."

"At present, there are standing [JI- Abu Sayyaf] threats in major cities in Mindanao like Zamboanga and Davao," said Ricardo, but did not give more details.

"The connection between the JI with the Abu Sayyaf in Mindanao could be a matter of exigency. Mindanao has been locked in conflict, and areas of conflict will always attract militant movements from outside forces," said Julkipli Wadi, an Islamic studies professor at the University of the Philippines.

Experts said that JI has been training operatives on Mindanao, and that the sea corridor between Sulu and Sulawesi is being used to ferry would-be militants back and forth.

The alliance of the Abu Sayyaf Group with the JI has strengthened the former, said Brig Gen Reymundo Ferrer, Basilan-based Army chief.

On Thursday, policemen seized a cache of explosive materials from a suspected Abu Sayyaf hideout in Metro Manila's suburban Marikina City.

Raid: Police foil possible bomb attack

The Philippines believes a raid on a suspected Muslim militant hideout foiled a major bomb plot in Manila, a police intelligence official said.

Romeo Ricardo, acting head of national police intelligence, said security forces were now worried about plans by the Abu Sayyaf group to carry out attacks in several cities on the southern island of Mindanao.

Abu Sayyaf is blamed for the country's worst terrorist attack, the bombing of a ferry in February 2004 that killed more than 100 people.

Ricardo said a raid in Marikina City on April 27, in which police confiscated a cache of crude bombs and grenades, forced a 10-member Abu Sayyaf "sleeper" cell to flee to the south.

Police believe attacks are being planned by Khaddafy Janjalani, the Abu Sayyaf leader who is believed to be hiding on the southwestern island of Jolo, and Indonesian militants Dulmatin and Umar Patek, key suspects in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

- Reuters