ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Three former Sulu officials were identified by police on Friday as the alleged masterminds in the August 5 blast at the Zamboanga airport.
Former Sulu 1st District Rep. Munir Arbison, former Maimbung Mayor Najib Maldiza, and former Pangutaran Mayor Ahmad Nanoh were the brains behind the blast, according to Chief Superintendent Edwin Corvera, Zamboanga Peninsula regional police director.
The attack killed 2 people, including the suspected bomber, and injured 22 others.
Corvera said police have submitted additional information to the Department of Justice, adding the names of the 3 former officials on the list of suspects in the attack.
The other names added on the list of suspects are Maulana Omar, Jojo Adam, Musimar Alih, and a certain Munir Hadjirul, police said.
Multiple frustrated murder and multiple attempted murder charges were earlier filed against 3 suspects -- Allan Saibuddin, Addung Salahuddin, and a John Doe.
Corvera said 4 witnesses have submitted sworn affidavits implicating the 3 former Sulu officials and 4 other suspects.
Senior Superintendent Edwin Diocos, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) regional director, said the witnesses took part in planning the airport bombing, which targeted Sulu Governor Abdul Sakur Tan.
The witnesses claimed that Arbison, Maldiza, and Nanoh hatched three separate plans to kill Tan, Diocos said.
The supposed schemes include a car bomb and the May 13, 2009 Patikul attack on the governor’s convoy.
The airport blast was “Plan C,” the CIDG official said.
Zamboanga City prosecutor Ricardo Cabaron is evaluating the affidavits of the witnesses to determine whether to charge the 3 former Sulu officials and the other suspects named in the case. (ABS-CBN Zamboanga - RJ Rosalado)
Link: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/09/03/10/alleged-brains-behind-zambo-airport-blast-tagged
Friday, September 03, 2010
Alleged brains behind Zambo airport blast tagged: ABS-CBN
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Police arrest suspect in failed assassination of Philippine governor
SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 26, 2010) – Police have arrested one of the suspects in the failed assassination of a Philippine governor in a raid in the southern province of Sulu, officials said Thursday.
Officials said commandos raided a hideout and captured Abner Tahil alias Abs in the village of Kasangyangan in Jolo town. Tahil, who was implicated by the police in the roadside bombing which targeted Sulu Governor Sakur Tan last year in Patikul town.
Police said ten people were injured in the attack, including a town mayor, after a motorcycle rigged with explosives, was remotely detonated as Tan convoy was passing by.
Tahil was surprised by the raid and did not resist arrest, said Chief Inspector Amil Baanan, operations chief of the provincial police force. “The arrest of Tahil is part of a long intelligence operation,” Baanan said.
He said Senior Superintendent Joseph Ramac, the Sulu police chief, ordered security forces to intensify the hunt for other suspects in the bombing following the capture of Tahil in Jolo town.
Tahil is also being investigated for his role in a suicide bombing that also targeted Tan in Zamboanga City last month.
Tan was among more than two dozen people injured in the bombing outside the Zamboanga International Airport.
The bomber, Reynaldo Apilado, and Hatimil Haron, one of his cohorts, were killed in the blast. Police also implicated at least three more men – Allan Sabudin, Muamar Astali and Adong Salahuddin – in the attack after they were seen in a hotel security video in Zamboanga City together with Apilado and Haron before the bombing. The three men remain at large.
National police chief Jesus Versoza said the attack was connected to the failed assassination of Tan last year. “This is connected to the failed assassination of Governor Tan last year. We are looking into all angles and motives of the attack,” he said.
Police said blamed last year attack on Tan to the militant group Abu Sayyaf, saying, two of the bombers were captured in a firefight with police commandos and they pointed to Tan’s political foes as the mastermind in the failed assassination.
Tan said more witnesses to the latest bombing have come out in the open and implicated several people as behind the attack. “Witnesses are coming out now and telling authorities that some people are also involved in the bombing,” he said, adding, authorities are now investigating the reports.
Regional police chief Edwin Corvera said they have received information from people claiming to have knowledge or were involved in the failed assassination of Tan. He said most of the information was passed to them through a police hotline they put up after the bombing.
He said information they received allegedly tagged a defeated congressional aspirant in Sulu province as behind the airport bombing while another implicated two defeated town mayors who are known political foes of the governor, and several policemen and that a bounty was put up by the mastermind to assassinate Tan. A third politician in Sulu, who lost in the May elections, was also implicated in the bombing. (Mindanao Examiner)
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Top Filipino terrorist killed in US drone attack in Pakistan
Monday, January 11, 2010
Police orders investigation on Sulu weapons landing
MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / January 11, 2010) – Philippine police is investigating reports of landing of hundreds of illegal weapons in the southern province of Sulu, where security forces are battling Abu Sayyaf militants.
Senior Superintendent Bienvenido Latag, the regional police chief, has ordered the investigation into the reports that some 300 firearms landed in the coastal town of Luuk.
“We are investigating reports that 300 illegal weapons landed in the town of Luuk” Latag told the independent regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.
Sulu Governor Sakur Tan, citing intelligence reports, said the weapons were smuggled into Luuk by a still unidentified armed group days after President Gloria Arroyo declared martial law in Maguindanao province where security forces recovered huge caches of light infantry and heavy artillery weapons allegedly owned by the powerful Ampatuan clan.
It was unknown whether the weapons came from Maguindanao or who owns arms cache.
The Ampatuan clan is one of the most feared in Mindanao and also among the wealthiest in the impoverished Maguindanao province, whose governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., and his sons, Zaldy Ampatuan, the regional governor, and Andal Ampatuan Jr., and several family members and relatives were linked by authorities to the gruesome killings of 57 people on November 23.
Among those killed were 31 journalists and wife and relatives of Buluan vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, who is a candidate for governor of Maguindanao in next year’s polls.
The victims were on a political caravan when they were abducted and killed by more then 100 gunmen allegedly led by Ampatuan Jr. All of them were eventually arrested in connection with the brutal slayings. The Ampatuans denied all the accusations against them.
Tan put Sulu under a state of emergency last year after Abu Sayyaf militants kidnapped three Red Cross workers. He also ordered security forces to dismantle all private armies of political warlords in the province.
Last year, police also recruited some 2,000 civilians to form part of the Police Auxiliary Unit to help authorities fight terrorism and guard villages against rebel attacks.
On Sunday, a grenade exploded outside a Roman Catholic Church in Sulu’s capital town of Jolo. The blast damaged window panes of the Our Lady of the Mount Carmel cathedral, but there were no casualties in the attack.
On New Year’s Eve, a grenade also exploded in front of the church and wounding one government soldier guarding the cathedral. The church was also targeted twice last year. In October 27, a grenade was lobbed by an unidentified man the back of the cathedral and the explosion damaged several windows. Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants also detonated a homemade bomb in front of the church last year.
The Abu Sayyaf group was also linked to last year’s failed assassination attempt on Sulu governor Sakur Tan outside his office in Patikul town. Militants bombed Tan’s convoy on May 13 that wounded 10 people, including a local town mayor Hatta Berto.
Tan just came from his office and on his way home when a motorcycle bomb exploded near his vehicle. Police later captured two suspected bombers Juhan Alimuddin and Sulayman Muin who confessed to investigators that they were hired by Tan’s political foe to kill the governor. (Mindanao Examiner)
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Basilan bishop frustrated over breakdown of peace and order
He said organized crime in Basilan thrive due to a combination of police incompetence and a failure of leadership by local public leaders.
“There is no peace at all here. There is kidnapping, there is beheading, there is also jailbreak. I told Secretary Gonzales we have already enough of this in Basilan,” he said over Church-run Radyo Veritas.
The bishop accused the local authorities of being “reactionary” to the several untoward incidents in the troubled region.
He said his recent meeting with Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales focused on the peace and order situation in Basilan.
Jumoad added that the local police lack the logistics and other support to go after criminals operating in the province.
He said Gonzalez met with him at his residence in Isabela City to solicit ideas on what can be done in the province, especially in the wake of series of kidnappings, and the massive jailbreak which left three people dead and saw 31 inmates escape on Sunday.
“I also told him the futility of local governments in the province where there is no real public service, we have bad roads, many residents are suffering,” Jumoad said.
Earlier, the prelate said he favored the declaration of martial rule in the province following the beheading of a plywood worker and abduction of a school official.
The government, meanwhile, will deploy additional troops to the additional conflict-wracked southern region of Mindanao to augment forces going working to recapture the escapees.
The military also offered P2-million reward money for the recapture of escapee Dan Ansawi, a Moro Islamic Liberation Front commander who was accused of being involved in ambush of marine soldiers in Basilan in July 2007.
Four other MILF members escaped during the jailbreak, authorities said.
On December 8, the head of a kidnapped Filipino factory worker Marquez Singson was recovered near Isabela City's square after his family and employer refused to pay P6-million demanded by his kidnappers, the Abu Sayyaf group.
Singson was kidnapped along with Chinese nationals Michael Tan and Oscar Lu in November in Maluso town.
Kidnappers also seized December 10 Basilan State College vice-president Orland Fajardo in Isabela City.
Basilan is stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, which has ties with al-Qaeda and the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group. (Roy Lagarde)
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Security forces capture bomber in southern Philippines
DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 30, 2009) – Security forces captured Thursday a suspected bomber tagged as behind the spate of attacks in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said Mohammad Jaafar Maguid was captured after soldiers and policemen raided his hideout in the village of Daliao in Sarangani’s Maasim town at around 1 p.m.
“The arrested terrorist is a member of the lawless MILF group and is reportedly the mastermind of the blast in Maasim a month ago that killed one civilian and wounded 32 others,” said Captain Rose Maria Cristina Manuel, a spokeswoman for the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.
“Maguid is also being tagged as one of those who carried out the series of bombings in Maasim, Kiamba and Maitum towns that killed several civilians and wounded many others,” she added.
She said Maguid is also facing charges of murder, arson and robbery in the province.
Manuel said troops seized from Maguid one anti-tank rocket launcher, an M79 grenade launcher, a carbine rifle and magazine, a rocket-propelled grenade, a fragmentation grenade and a pair of binoculars, including materials and black powder used for the manufacture of improvised explosive devices.
She said security forces also recovered a cell phone which could be used as detonator to trigger explosion of homemade bombs, two cell phone charges, a radio transceiver and two pieces of 9-volt batteries.
Lieutenant Colonel Edgardo de Leon, who led the raid, said Maguid was a follower of wanted MILF leader Ameril Kato, who was behind a deadly attack in the province last year.
“With his arrest, the province would have relative peace and his victims will finally get justice,” he said.
Major General Reynaldo Mapagu, a regional army commander, praised the capture of Maguid and he appealed to citizens to help authorities fight terrorism by providing intelligence about lawless elements.
“The crusade against terrorism does not end here. We must unite as one nation and fight all threats to our national development. We call on our people, Muslims, Lumads (indigenous peoples) and Christians alike to join hands in making our community a safe place to live.”
“There is no better way to fight terrorism than understanding and communicating peacefully with each other. Together, let us create an atmosphere of mutual respect and sympathy so that we may journey towards lasting peace in our country,” Mapagu said.
There was no immediate statement from the MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group which is fighting the past three decades for self-determination. Manila has reopened peace talks with the MILF in an effort to end the bloody hostilities in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Philippine Navy steps up anti-terror ops in Mindanao
Members of the Philippine Navy’s Special Warfare Assault Group inspect a trawler for explosives or illegal weapons Tuesday, July 22, 2009 near Pilas group of islands in the Sulu Sea off Zamboanga City. Admiral Alexander Pama, a regional navy chief, has ordered an intensified patrol in the troubled region following the recent bombings of the Marriot and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Indonesia and the spate of bombings in Mindanao and Sulu in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)Authorities blamed the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiya and the Abu Sayyaf and Moro rebels for the series of bombings in Sulu and Mindanao in recent weeks that left scores of civilians dead and wounded.
Indonesia also tagged the Jemaah Islamiya for the recent suicide bombings of the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta which killed nine people and wounded at least 53 others.
“We have stepped up our security patrol. We are fighting terrorism here,” Admiral Alexander Pama, the navy’s regional commander in Mindanao, told the Mindanao Examiner.
He said navy gunboats regularly patrol the Moro Gulf, the Mindanao, Sulu and Celebes seas, an area where pirates are actively operating.
Last week, authorities seized some 350 kilos of banned ammonium nitrate and 1,800 pieces of blasting caps and detonating cords from a cargo vessel in the central Philippine province of Cebu that was heading for Iligan City in Mindanao.
The spikes in bomb attacks in Mindanao and Sulu also coincided with the release of three kidnapped Red Cross workers held by the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya.
The trio – Swiss national Andreas Notter, Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba and Italian Eugenio Vagni – was kidnapped in January in Sulu after inspecting a humanitarian project at a prison in Patikul town.
Lacaba and Notter were freed separately in April, while Vagni was released this month and there were persistent reports that ransoms had been paid to the Abu Sayyaf for their liberty.
It was, however, unknown whether the ransoms had been used to finance the bombings in the Philippines and Indonesia. The Red Cross denied that it paid ransoms to the kidnappers.
The military has last week deployed hundreds of soldiers in Basilan and Sulu provinces to crush the Abu Sayyaf. (Mindanao Examiner)
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Sayyaf amnesty proposal demoralizes troops, cops in Southern Philippine
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 15, 2009) – A proposal to grant amnesty or open peace negotiations with the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group is causing a demoralization in the police and military in the southern Philippines.
Senator Richard Gordon has proposed to grant amnesty to the terrorist group after the recent release of kidnapped Italian aid worker Eugenio Vagni after six months in captivity in the southern island of Sulu.
Sulu deputy governor Nur Ana Sahidulla also said that Abu Sayyaf leader Albader Parad told her that they are open for talks on amnesty. The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for the spate of kidnappings-for-ransom and bombings in the Mindanao.
“We cannot afford to hold a peace talk to the Abu Sayyaf or worst allow they be granted amnesty. The Abu Sayyaf is a terrorist group that had killed not only policemen and soldiers, but innocent people as well.”
“There is growing demoralization now in the ranks of the military in Sulu and perhaps even in areas where soldiers are fighting the Abu Sayyaf,” said one government soldier, who spoke on condition that he would not be named.
Policemen in Sulu province also claimed the proposals to start peace talks or grant amnesty to the Abu Sayyaf has demoralized many of them.
“How many policemen were killed by the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu? Our good provincial commander Julasirim Kasim was killed by the terrorists. They murdered innocent civilians, innocent Muslims. There must be no amnesty, not even peace talks. The Abu Sayyaf and their allies must also be killed so we may have peace in Sulu,” a policeman said.
Kasim was ambushed in May and killed along with were his brother and three other policemen.
Sulu Governor Sakur Tan has also opposed any amnesty to the Abu Sayyaf, saying, the government does not negotiate with terrorists. He blamed the Abu Sayyaf for the series of bomb attacks and kidnappings in Sulu.
“There should be no negotiations with terrorists. Terrorists must pay their crimes,” said Tan, who survived a road bombing in May blamed by the police and military to the Abu Sayyaf group.
Tan, backed by the government, has declared a state of emergency in Sulu to allow authorities to run after Abu Sayyaf supporters who are providing them refuge.
Philippine authorities said the Abu Sayyaf has links with the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiya, who was also involved in the kidnapping of Vagni and two other Red Cross workers Swiss national Andreas Notter and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba in January in Sulu’s Patikul town.
Lawmakers also opposed the proposals, saying, it would go against the government’s policy of not negotiating with terrorists.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro has rejected any amnesty with the Abu Sayyaf and ordered the military to pursue the terrorist group and its supporters.
The military said it will strictly follow the chain of command and that operations against the Abu Sayyaf will not cease. “The Armed Forces will strictly follow the chain of command. The operation against the Abu Sayyaf is continuing. We are focus in our mission and that is to fight terrorism,” Cacho said.
But Cacho admitted the proposed amnesty and peace talks with the Abu Sayyaf have become a big issue in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. “It is a political issue. It is for the government to settle, but that’s a big issue in the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” she said.
Cacho said they have not received reports that troops were demoralized, but she was quick to say that the military respect the opinions of the soldiers. “Soldiers are entitled to their opinion and this should be respected,” she said.
Secretary Avelino Razon, the presidential peace adviser, also rejected amnesty proposal to the Abu Sayyaf, saying, it goes against the government’s policy of no-negotiations with terrorists.
It was unknown whether the proposed amnesty or peace talks with the Abu Sayyaf would affect US military assistance to the Philippines. Hundreds of US troops are deployed in the southern Philippines, including Sulu, and were helping the local military defeat the Abu Sayyaf since 2001.
The Abu Sayyaf is listed as a foreign terrorist organization by Washington.
Philippine authorities said several Jemaah Islamiya terrorists, among them Mauiya, Dulmatin, Zulkifli bin Hir and Umar Patek, who are all wanted by Indonesia for the spate of deadly attacks, including the Bali bombing in 2002, has joined the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu.
The US has offered at least $16 million rewards for their capture. (Mindanao Examiner)
Monday, July 13, 2009
Military operations continue in Sulu after release of Italian hostage
Italian Red Cross staff Eugenio Vagni in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines after his release Sunday, July 12, 2009. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)Terrorists have freed over the weekend an Italian hostage Eugenio Vagni after six months in captivity. Vagni, a Red Cross staff, was kidnapped in January along with two other aid workers Swiss national Andreas Notter and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba – both had been released in April.
“Our operations against the terrorists are continuing in Sulu. We have troops pursuing them,” Army First Lieutenant Steffani Cacho, a spokeswoman for the Western Mindanao Command, told the Mindanao Examiner.
Vagni was released to Sulu deputy governor Nur Ana Sahidulla at around 1.15 a.m. near Indanan town.
Sahidulla said no ransom was paid for Vagni’s liberty, but the militants originally demanded as much as $2 million for his safe release. Other reports said some P50,000 were also given to the terrorists as payment for Vagni’s so-called “board and lodging.”
No other details were made available by the police and security officials did not give any statement surrounding Vagni’s release.
Italian philanthropist Armando de Rossi, who heads the 3P Foundation, helped Sahidulla in the negotiation for Vagni’s safe release. De Rossi pledged humanitarian and development projects.
“We want to thank all those who helped secure the safe release of Eugenio. The crisis (management) committee (headed by) and Governor Sakur Tan and all the others who made this (release) possible,” De Rossi said.
De Rossi’s foundation is active in humanitarian works in Sulu and had previously donated millions worth of aid to mostly poor villages in the province.
ABS-CBN television, which quoted unnamed sources, reported that the military would swap two wives of an Abu Sayyaf leader Albader Parad for Vagni. Both women were eventually freed by the military.
The two women, Rowena Aksan and Nursima Annudden, were arrested at a military checkpoint in Tagbak village in Indanan town on Tuesday along with four other militants Rabia Asiri, Marwina Salasain, Madrimar Bagadi and Midsfar Aksan. Soldiers also seized from them more than P300,000.
It was unknown why the six were not handed over to the police. The military implicated the six people in the kidnappings of Vagni and two other Red Cross workers, Swiss national Andreas Notter and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba.
There were suspicions that ransoms were paid for the release of the aid workers. The Red Cross denied it paid ransoms in exchange for the freedom of Notter, Lacaba and Vagni.
The Abu Sayyaf had previously used ransoms collected from kidnappings to purchase weapons and finance terror attacks in Sulu and Mindanao.
Just barely two months after the Abu Sayyaf freed Lacaba and Notter, a series of bombings occurred in Mindanao that left scores of people dead and wounded. Authorities blamed the attacks to the Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiya.
It was not immediately known whether the supposed ransoms paid for the release of the aid workers were used to finance the bombings.
Military and police intelligence reports said several Jemaah Islamiya terrorists are among the Abu Sayyaf that kidnapped Vagni’s group - Mauiya, Dulmatin, Zulkifli bin Hir and Umar Patek - who are all wanted by Indonesia for the spate of deadly attacks, including the Bali bombing in 2002. The US has offered at least $16 million rewards for their capture.
Sulu Governor Sakur Tan is also supporting military operation against the terrorists, saying, Abu Sayyaf hostilities must be stopped to spare civilians from terror threats.
“We need top protect our citizens from threats of terrorism. Terrorism must be stopped,” he said.
Tan is the only politician who came out publicly to declare an all-out war against terrorism in Sulu and public support is outpouring.
The United States listed the Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiya as foreign terrorist groups alongside with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Philippine authorities said the Jemaah Islamiya terrorists fled to Mindanao where they sought refuge under the protection of the Abu Sayyaf and rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group. (Mindanao Examiner)
Friday, July 10, 2009
Traders close shops in Cotabato; protest bomb attack
Police released Friday, July 10, 2009 a sketch of a suspected bomber blamed for a deadly attack that killed 6 people and injured dozens more. Shops also closed on Friday to protest Sunday bombing blamed on terrorists. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Mark Navales)COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 10, 2009) – Business shops in Cotabato City in the southern Philippines closed on Friday as traders protest a deadly bombing blamed to local terrorists.
Police also released a sketch of a man suspected to have carried Sunday’s attack outside a Catholic church that killed 6 people and injured dozens more. Christian and Muslim religious leaders condemned the bombing.
Shops also put signs calling for a stop to bombings and kidnappings. A McDonald branch put up a streamer which reads “Stop Kidnappings.” The US hamburger chain was among those that closed on Friday.
Soldiers and policemen were spotted patrolling Cotabato City for fear that there would be more attacks or kidnappings. Several people had been kidnapped and ransomed off in Cotabato the past months and police blamed them to the Pentagon Gang, whose members were former Moro rebels.
On Friday, President Gloria Arroyo cancelled her scheduled visit to Cotabato City because of threats of terror. (With a report from Mark Navales)
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Southern Philippines hit by twin bombings; JI, Abu Sayyaf blamed for attacks
Police surround an area in Jolo town in Sulu province in the southern Philippines where a motorcycle bomb exploded Tuesday, July 7, 2009 and killed two people and wounded 24 others. A car bomb also exploded in Iligan City in Mindanao, killing one person and wounding 10 more. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Nickee Butlangan and Merlyn Manos)ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 7, 2009) – Three people were killed and at least 34 others injured in separate bombings Tuesday in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said two people were killed and 24 more wounded in a motorcycle bomb explosion near the Mount Carmen Cathedral in Jolo town in Sulu province. The blast, which occurred around 7.45 a.m., damaged several hardware stores.
“We are still investigating the motive of the attack and the type of explosive used in this attack. But there were scattered remains of a motorcycle in the area and confirming our suspicion that a motorcycle bomb was used in the attack,” Chief Inspector Usman Pingay, the town’s police chief, told the Mindanao Examiner by phone from Jolo.
He said the bomb exploded in front of the Go Teck Leng hardware and the blast killed Vicky Sia, 62, and Hamsirani Hamsi, 60. He said among the wounded were three policemen.
Jolo town Mayor Hussin Amin said a second improvised explosive, assembled from an 81mm mortar bomb, and planted at police booth outside the church was also disarmed by soldiers.
The wounded were rushed to hospital in Jolo. No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the blast, but Abu Sayyaf militants with links to the Indonesian terror Jemaah Islamiya are largely blamed by the police and military for the attack.
“We suspect that those behind the bombing could be the same group that detonated a motorcycle bomb at the convoy of Governor Sakur Tan,” Amin said.
The mayor was referring to the failed assassination of Tan in May. Tan’s convoy was bombed outside his office while returning home from work, injuring 10 people.
One person was also killed and at least 10 people wounded - three of them soldiers - after a car bomb exploded in Iligan City three hours later.
The car bomb exploded near an army jeep which was parked adjacent to a pawnshop in downtown Iligan and among the wounded were three soldiers. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but previous bombings in Mindanao had been largely blamed by authorities also to Moro rebels and Jemaah Islamiya.
“The explosion occurred at around 10.30 a.m. We still don’t know who was behind the latest bombing. It’s too early to speculate, but the attacks are escalating,” said First Lieutenant Steffani Cacho, a regional military spokeswoman.
Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor said the target of the bombing was the military convoy. “The bombing in Iligan targeted the convoy,” he said in a television interview.
Blancaflor, who also head a government anti-terror task force, said they still do not know if the attacks were coordinated or not. “But the effect of this is to sow terror,” he said.
It was the second bomb attack this week outside a Catholic church in the southern Philippines. On Sunday, an improvised bomb exploded outside a church in Cotabato City in Mindanao and killed 5 people and wounded 55 more. (With reports from Nickee Butlangan in Sulu and Merlyn Manos in Iligan City)
Bomb explodes outside Catholic chuch in Jolo town, 2 killed, 17 others wounded
Witnesses said another improvised explosive was found outside the Mount Carmel Catholic cathedral and had been disarmed by Filipino and US troops. The US is helping the local military defeat terrorism in Sulu.
"They have recovered another bomb. There were US and Filipino soldiers, they disarmed the bomb," one witness said in cell phone text message sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
The wounded were rushed to hospital. No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the blast, but Abu Sayyaf militants with links to the Indonesian terror Jemaah Islamiya are largely blamed by the police for the attack.
The blast, which occurred around 7.45 a.m., damaged several hardware stores, police said.
“We are still investigating the motive of the attack and the type of explosive used in this attack. But there were scattered remains of a motorcycle in the area and bolstering our suspicion that a motorcycle bomb was used in the attack,” Chief Inspector Usman Pingay, the town’s police chief, told the Mindanao Examiner by phone from Jolo.
He said the bomb exploded in front of the Go Teck Leng hardware and the blast killed Vicky Sia, 62, and Hamsirani Hamsi, 60. He said among the wounded were three policemen.
It was the second bomb attack this week outside a Catholic church in the southern Philippines. On Sunday, an improvised bomb exploded outside a church in Cotabato City in Mindanao and killed 5 people and wounded 55 more. The military blamed the attack to Moro rebels and Jemaah Islamiya. (Mindanao Examiner)
Monday, July 06, 2009
MILF begins own probe into deadly bombing in Mindanao
Military authorities blamed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for the weekend bombing in Cotabato City. But the MILF denied the accusation and has started its own investigation into the attack.
“We have began our own investigation and we also wanted to know who was behind the bombing or whether the military or other group opposed to the peace process was involved in the attack,” Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, told the Mindanao Examiner.
Kabalu said they suspected that government soldiers were behind the spate of bombings in the restive Muslim autonomous region where security and rebel forces are fighting.
“There were persistent reports from Muslim villagers that soldiers were behind the bombings to discredit the MILF,” he said.
He said civilians reported on Saturday that they saw a man clad in MILF uniform planted a bomb in Maguindanao’s Datu Piang town and then retreated at an army detachment in Buayan village. The bomb exploded minutes later and injured three people.
Colonel Jonathan Ponce, a spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the spate of bombings in Mindanao were the handiwork of the MILF.
“The MILF was behind all these attacks. This is terrorism and the MILF is targeting innocent civilians because of our campaign against rogue rebels, against terrorism,” he said, adding the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiya provided bomb-making training to MILF rebels.
President Gloria Arroyo opened peace talks in 2001 with the MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group fighting for independence, but negotiations collapsed in August last year after both sides failed to sign a Muslim homeland deal.
The rebels accused Arroyo of reneging on the deal that peace negotiators initially signed in Malaysia in July 2008 in Malaysia, which brokered the talks. The Philippine Supreme Court said the agreement was unconstitutional.Since then fighting broke out in many areas in Mindanao.
MILF chieftain Murad Ebrahim called on rebels to be steadfast and patient in the face of the “brutalities” of the military. He also accused government troops of burning some 3,000 houses owned by Muslims and indiscriminate bombing, shelling, and arrests of civilians in Mindanao.
Murad said the military also imposed a food blockade from reaching tens of thousands of hungry refugees and prevented humanitarian groups and journalists from inspecting refugee shelters in Maguindanao.
Murad assailed the military for saying that the MILF infiltrated refugee shelters and rebels were using evacuation centers as base for reserved forces.
The military claimed more than a thousand rebels were killed in the fighting since last year. But Murad denied the report and said MILF forces killed about 500 soldiers and captured their weapons, including two unmanned aerial vehicles shot down in Maguindanao. One of them was a US military spy plane and the other was believed to be owned by the Philippine Army. US troops are deployed in Maguindanao and helping the local military fight terrorism. (Mindanao Examiner)
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Congressman charged for bomb attack on Sulu gov
In a report, the PNP said the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) filed charges of attempted murder and frustrated murder against Sulu 2nd District Rep. Munir Arbison "in connection with the attempt on the life" of Tan.
The CIDG filed the same charges before the Regional State Prosecutor in Zamboanga City against four other suspects identified as Cocoy Tulawie, Moamil Askali, Sulaiman Mohammad Muin and Juhan Albani Alihuddin.
Director Raul Castañeda, CIDG chief, said the Arbison, Tulawi and Askali were charged based on the "extra-judicial confession" of Muin and Albani, who were arrested in Patikul town, Sulu province last May 26.
"The two suspects have volunteered to give extra-judicial confession to help investigators piece together details of the May 13 bombing," the PNP said in a statement.
Tan was on his way home from the provincial capitol in Patikul town when a bomb-rigged motorcycle exploded near his official vehicle.
The governor survived the attack. Pandami town Mayor Hatta Berta, who was accompanying the governor, and nine others were hurt in the bomb blast. (ABS-CBN)
Link: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/06/11/09/congressman-charged-bomb-attack-sulu-gov
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Sulu Governor files charges vs. suspected bombers
Police have captured two suspected terrorists Juhan Alimuddin and Sulayman Muin who implicated in the failed assassination of Tan.
The two men told police that Temogen Tulawie, a known activist and a defeated congressional candidate in the 2007 elections, allegedly ordered the attack. Tulawie could not be reached to comment on the allegations of the two men against him.
“In the aforementioned extrajudicial confessions, said two arrested persons have voluntarily confessed their actual participation in the assassination attempt on my person upon order of Temogen Tulawie a.k.a. “Cocoy Tulawie.”
“They have narrated every detail of the assassination plot and the actual participation of said Cocoy Tulawie who planned and provided them with the improvised explosive device which they attached to the motorcycle and which exploded,” Tan said in his complaint-affidavit.
Assistant City Prosecutor Bienvenido Orillo received the complaint.
Police said Alimuddin and Muin were tagged as among those who bombed Tan’s convoy. Tan survived the assassination attempt, but a town mayor, Hatta Berto, of Pandami, and nine others were injured in the road bombing.
Tan just came from his office and on his way home when a motorcycle bomb exploded near his vehicle. The attack was condemned by many civil groups in Sulu.
Superintendent Muhibuddin Amil Ismail, the Sulu police chief, said a hand grenade, .45-caliber pistol and a .38-revolver were recovered from the Alimuddin and Muin, who are believed to be local members of the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiya.
The capture May 26 of the Alumuddin and Muin came after Police Director General Jesus Verzosa organized the Task Group Elected Government Officials that will pursue the case. (Mindanao Examiner)
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Philippine Army blames MILF rebels for spate of bomb attacks in Mindanao
Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Ponce, a spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division, said the MILF, whose peace talks with Manila collapsed last year, have been targeting civilians in central Mindanao.
Ponce said the rebels detonated an improvised explosive assembled from a 60mm mortar bomb late Saturday in front of cockpit arena in the village of Salman in Lebak town in Sultank Kudarat province.
He said although there were no reports of casualties, the attack proved the MILF is targeting civilians to sow terror.
“The signature of the improvised explosive device and how it was made is patterned to the handiwork of the special operations groups of the MILF. These groups are desperate that even civilian are not spared,” Ponce told the Mindanao Examiner.
The MILF has denied it was behind the attack.
On Friday, a bomb also destroyed a parked truck in Cotabato City, but there were no casualties. It was unknown if the MILF was behind the blast.
Peace negotiations collapsed in August after Manila reneged on a deal that would grant a separate homeland to some four million Muslims in Mindanao. The Supreme Court said the deal was unconstitutional. (Mindanao Examiner)
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Two JI bombers captured in Sulu province
Sulu Governor Dr Sakur Tan, Al Haj. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)Officials said the two men, Juhan Alimuddin and Sulayman Muin, were captured after a weeklong surveillance in Badjao village in the town of Patikul late Tuesday. Two other suspects managed to escape.
Alimuddin and Muin were tagged as among those who bombed May 13 the convoy of Sulu Governor Sakur Tan in Patikul town. Tan survived the assassination attempt, but a town mayor, Hatta Berto, of Pandami, and nine others were injured in the road bombing.
Tan just came from his office and on his way home when a motorcycle bomb exploded near his vehicle. The attack was condemned by many civil groups in Sulu.
Superintendent Muhibuddin Amil Ismail, the Sulu police chief, said a hand grenade, .45-caliber pistol and a .38-revolver were recovered from the Alimuddin and Muin, who are believed to be local members of the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiya.
He said civilian informants provided intelligence and helped in the capture of the suspects. “Citizens are themselves providing us information about the terrorists and the operation in going on to get the other suspects,” Ismail told the Mindanao Examiner.
He said the two suspects would be handed over to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Manila.
The capture of the men came after PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa organized the Task Group Elected Government Officials.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Sayyafs free 3 hostages in southern Philippines
Abu Sayyaf militants have freed Tuesday, May 26, 2009 three teachers kidnapped in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines after four months in captivity. The trio - Quizon Freires, 28; Janette Delos Reyes, 29; and Rafael Mayonado, 24 – were kidnapped at sea on January 23 while returning by boat from a break on Sacol Island in Zamboanga City. They were brought to Basilan province where the kidnappers originally demanded P6 million ransoms and eventually lowered this to P2.5 million for their safe release. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Jung Francisco)The trio - Quizon Freires, 28; Janette Delos Reyes, 29; and Rafael Mayonado, 24 – were kidnapped at sea on January 23 while returning by boat from a break on Sacol Island in Zamboanga City.
They were brought to Basilan province where the kidnappers originally demanded P6 million ransoms for their safe release.
Radio station dxRZ in Zamboanga City reported that the hostages were released to a private negotiator in the town of Mohamad Ajul.
Military and police officials did not give any statement about the release of the hostages and telephone calls from journalists were either ignored or went unanswered.
Other reports said an unspecified amount of ransom was allegedly paid to the Abu Sayyaf headed by Commander Aguila, who lowered their demand to P2.5 million.
The families of the hostages have previously approached the Moro Islamic Liberation Front after accusing the government of failing to help them secure the freedom of the trio.
The release of the hostages came a week after Abu Sayyaf militants beheaded a kidnapped farm owner Doroteo Gonzalez in Basilan’s Akbar town. His body was not recovered.
Gonzales, 61, was snatched from his house April 25 in the village of Buenavista in Zamboanga City and brought to Basilan by his captors. Gonzales was killed after his family failed to pay P25 million ransom.
Late last year, Abu Sayyaf gunmen also kidnapped a hospital nurse and a nursing student in Zamboanga City and brought them to Basilan and were ransomed off by their families several weeks later.
Police said the Abu Sayyaf is also holding a lending firm collector, Leah Patris, seized near Basilan’s Maluso town and a Sri Lankan national, Umar Jaleel, a member of the international peace advocate group called Nonviolent Peaceforce, both were kidnapped in February.
The Abu Sayyaf is a small band of militants blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks and is still holding an Italian Red Cross worker Eugenio Vagni who was seized in January in Sulu province. (Mindanao Examiner)
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Sulu governor survives slay try; 4 others injured in road side bombing
Photos released by Philippine authorities show what is left from a “motorcycle bomb” after an attack Wednesday, May 13, 2009 on the convoy of Sulu provincial governor Sakur Tan, who survived the assassination attempt, but a town mayor, Hatta Berto, of Pandami, and two army and a policeman were injured in the road bombing in Patikul town in Sulu, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region. Police are investigating the attack. (Mindanao Examiner)Tan’s convoy was passing a road in Patikul town when a parked motorcycle rigged with explosives was detonated at around 12.15 p.m.
A town mayor, Hatta Berto, of Pandami, who was with Tan and two army soldiers and a policeman escorting him were injured in the bombing, his spokesman, Sonny Abing, told reporters.
“The governor came from his office and was on his way home for lunch when the bombing occurred. Governor Tan is unscathed from the attack which occurred near the Provincial Capitol.”
“The people have condemned the assassination attempt on the life of Governor Tan, who is working hard to achieve peace and development in Sulu,” he said.
No individual or group claimed responsibility for the bombing, but Abing said the police are investigating the attack.
Regional police chief Bensali Jabarani did not give any statement and ignored phones calls from journalists. Sulu is one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.
The failed assassination came barely a week after Abu Sayyaf militants, whose group is holding hostage an Italian aid worker, ambushed and killed the Sulu police chief, Julasirim Kasim, and four others in Indanan town.
It was unknown if the Abu Sayyaf had anything to do with the latest attack or if the failed assassination on the official was related to politics.
Tan is a religious man and a known philanthropist in Mindanao, who won by a landslide in 2007 against incumbent governor Benjamin Loong and former rebel leader Nur Misauri. (Mindanao Examiner)
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Homemade bomb detonated in Basilan province
Provincial deputy governor Al-Rasheed Sakalahul said the bomb was found by civilians at an abandoned house in Isabela City and was immediately detonated. “It was powerful alright. They can use the bomb to attack civilian targets,” he said.
No individual or group claimed ownership of the explosive, but Sakalahul said terrorists could be planning an attack later in the day.
Early this month, suspected Abu Sayyaf also detonated a bomb planted on a street pole near the Provincial Capitol that killed two people and wounded eight others.
Last December, a grenade attack in the same area left 17 people wounded and police and military blamed it to the Abu Sayyaf, a small band of militants blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks.
The group is still holding three teachers, a lending firm collector and a Sri Lankan peace advocate in Basilan. Another Abu Sayyaf faction is also holding a kidnapped Italian Red Cross worker Eugenio Vagni in Sulu province. (Mindanao Examiner)