Philippine Military Says U.S. Involved In Intell Ops In Troubled South

MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / 03 Jan) - The Philippine military on Wednesday admitted that U.S. intelligence experts were involved in tracking down members of the Southeast Asian terror group, Jemaah Islamiya, believed hiding with Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern island of Jolo.

"It's principally on the field of technical intelligence," the Philippine News Agency quoted a Filipino military spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro as telling reporters at the Camp Aguinaldo headquarters here.

"As to the details of the technical intelligence, I don't know, I'm not privy. They are providing us limited technical intelligence," Bacarro said.

The U.S. military in the past not only provided valuable intelligence to the Armed Forces of the Philippines about the Abu Sayyaf, but also took part in a covert operation with local soldiers to rescue a kidnapped American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham held by the Abu Sayyaf in Zamboanga del Norte province in 2002.

The U.S. previously used unmanned drones and Orion spy planes and electronic warfare in locating hideouts of terrorists in the southern Philippines.

Philippine authorities said as many as 30 Jemaah Islamiya terrorists are operating in the troubled region of Mindanao and Jolo island, about 950 kms south of Manila.

At least 5 of them, including Dulmatin and Umar Patek, both wanted by Jakarta for the 2002 Bali bombings, are said to be in Jolo under the protection of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.

Just last month, Filipino military commanders in Jolo island said soldiers dug up what they believed were the remains of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, who was killed in a clash with troops in September. But DNA tests are still needed to confirm whether the remains belong to the elusive leader, blamed for the spate of terrorism in the southern Philippines.

The Philippine military also linked the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is currently negotiating peace with Manila, to the Jemaah Islamiya, an accusation strongly denied by the country's largest Muslim rebel group.

Washington tagged both the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya as foreign terrorist organizations and offered millions of dollars in rewards for the capture of Dulmatin and Janjalani. (Mindanao Examiner)