GENERAL SANTOS CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 13 Nov) - Police arrested a member of the Philippines' largest Muslim rebel group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), for allegedly transporting homemade bomb in the troubled Mindanao region, rocked by a spate of bomb attacks last month.
Blah Platon was intercepted on a motorcycle before dawn Monday at a police checkpoint on a highway in Tacurong town in Sultan Kudarat province, a known stronghold of the MILF, which is currently negotiating peace with Manila, reports said.
Police said the man was trained in explosives by the Jemaah islamiya and is also wanted by authorities for kidnapping and has a P175,000 bounty on his head.
The MILF said it is investigating the report.
"We have no reports about this, but we will look into this allegation. The MILF is not a terrorist group, but a revolutionary organization. The MILF is not involved in any terroristic activities."
"We are currently negotiating peace with the Philippine government and we are sincere with the talks," the MILF spokesman, Eid Kabalu, told the Mindanao Examiner by phone from a rebel base in the south.
Authorities were investigating whether Platon was involved in the series of bomb attacks last month in Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato and Cotabato City that killed at least 14 people.
Police linked the MILF to the bombings and filed criminal charges against rebel chieftain Murad Ebrahim and several of his commanders, including Jemaah Islamiya bombers Dulmatin and Umar Patek. But Manila later dropped the charges against the MILF after the rebels warned that linking Ebrahim could scuttle the peace talks.
The MILF said the charges against Ebrahim was politically motivated. (Mindanao Examiner)
1 comment:
Really hard to deny if the bomb was found with him.
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