From: Subject: Metro bomb plot foiled; ... - Mar. 31, 2004 Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 20:42:27 +0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0046_01C42D61.5149DF90"; type="text/html" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1409 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0046_01C42D61.5149DF90 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.inq7.net/nat/2004/mar/31/text/nat_1-1-p.htm Metro bomb plot foiled; ... - Mar. 31, 2004 this story was taken from=20 www.inq7.net

URL:=20 http://www.inq7.net/nat/2004/mar/31/text/nat_1-1-p.htm



Metro = bomb plot=20 foiled;
4 Abu men nabbed
Posted:11:16=20 PM (Manila Time) | Mar. 30, 2004
By Juliet=20 Labog-Javellana, Christian V. Esguerra and Alcuin Papa
Inquirer News = Service=20

A PLOT by the Abu Sayyaf to bring its campaign of terror to Metro = Manila has=20 been thwarted.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Tuesday = security=20 forces had arrested four members of a deadly Abu Sayyaf cell, seized 36=20 kilograms (80 pounds) of TNT explosives from them, and foiled their plan = to bomb=20 trains and malls around Metro Manila on the scale of the Madrid attacks, = which=20 killed nearly 200 people.

She said one of the four had claimed = credit for=20 the Feb. 27 explosion and fire on the SuperFerry 14 near Manila Bay, = which left=20 more than 100 passengers dead.

The alleged ferry bomber, = identified as=20 Redendo Cain Dellosa, has told investigators that he planted TNT in a = television=20 set on the ferry, a top security official said, according to the = Associated=20 Press (AP).

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, = said=20 Dellosa, a Muslim convert, confessed after his arrest that "he was = passenger 51"=20 and that he stashed TNT in a TV set that he carried onto the = ferry.

The=20 Abu Sayyaf earlier identified its "suicide bomber" as Arnulfo Alvarado = and said=20 he was in Bunk 51.

After planting the bomb in the passenger = cabin,=20 Dellosa said he escaped, the official told AP.

"We have preempted = a=20 Madrid-level attack on the metropolis by capturing an explosive cache of = 80=20 pounds TNT," Ms Macapagal said in a press conference at Villamor Air = Base prior=20 to leaving for her election campaign sortie in Naga City.

She was = referring to the March 11 train bombings in the Spanish capital which = had been=20 blamed on extremists linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda = network.

"This=20 is intended for bombing malls and trains in Metro Manila," the President = said of=20 the explosives cache.

"The most dangerous terrorist cell of the = Abu=20 Sayyaf has been dismantled."

Her statements appeared to be an = admission=20 that the Abu Sayyaf, the most violent Moro extremist group claiming to = fight for=20 an Islamic state in the Mindanao region and also linked by intelligence = agencies=20 to al-Qaeda, had finally arrived in Manila.

The 36 kilos of TNT = is=20 powerful enough to flatten a two-story structure with a floor area of = about 60=20 square meters provided it is strategically placed, Central Luzon police = director=20 Chief Supt. Vidal Querol said.

"It can also rip through an = average train=20 coach, that's for sure," he told the Inquirer.

Ms Macapagal said = she was=20 disclosing the plotters' supposed link to the SuperFerry incident = against the=20 advice of her national security officials.

"Let no one and no = nation=20 underestimate our determination to finish off the Abu Sayyaf, the JI = (Jemaah=20 Islamiya) and the al-Qaeda cells in our country," she said.

The = JI is a=20 regional militant network said to be also linked to al-Qaeda and blamed = for=20 several bombings around Southeast Asia, including the Bali tourist = resort=20 attacks in Indonesia, which killed more than 200 people.

Ms = Macapagal=20 announced the arrests after US President George W. Bush's Republican = party=20 admitted in Washington on Monday it had been lax in labeling Thailand = and the=20 Philippines as harboring and aiding terrorists.

The labels had = drawn=20 protests from Manila and Bangkok.

Philippine National Police = intelligence=20 chief Gen. Ismael Rafanan identified the four suspected terrorists=20 as:

Al-hamsed Manatad Limbong, alias Hassan, Sayyaf and Kosovo, = said to=20 be the second cousin of fugitive Abu Sayyaf leader Khadafy Janjalani and = supposedly involved in the beheading of American tourist Guillermo = Sobero in=20 2001. He was linked to the 2002 bombing in Malagutay, Zamboanga City, = which=20 killed an American soldier.

Redendo Cain Dellosa, alias Hakid = Akmal, who=20 allegedly trained under an Indonesian Jemaah bomber.

Abdusaid = Lim, alias=20 Abu Khalifa, a supposed urban commando involved in the 2001 kidnapping = of 20=20 people, including the American missionary couple Martin and Grace = Burnham, in=20 the Dos Palmas resort in Palawan.

Radsamar Sangkula, alias = Michaeal=20 Saavedra, an explosives trainer allegedly involved in the abduction of = 53 people=20 in Tumahubong, Basilan, in March 2000.

Only Limbong, alias = Kosovo,=20 carried a reward--P150,000--for his capture.

Campaigning in Pili, = Camarines Sur, Ms Macapagal announced the price on Janjalani's head had = been=20 doubled to P10 million.

Janjalani is hiding in Central Mindanao and is being protected by = members of=20 the JI, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Narciso Abaya = said.

Quoting=20 intelligence reports, Abaya also said Janjalani was being coddled by the = MILF's=20 Special Operations Group and escorted by 50 to 60 armed = men.

Janjalani=20 escaped from Basilan, where he makes his base, at the height of the = US-RP=20 Balikatan war games in 2002 and moved to Jolo. Later, he fled to Central = Mindanao.

Rafanan said the four suspects had standing arrest = warrants for=20 their alleged involvement in the Dos Palmas kidnappings besides having = been=20 implicated in the abduction of 21 mostly foreign tourists from Sipadan = island in=20 Malaysia in 2000.

PNP intelligence director Robert Delfin said = the=20 suspects were planning an attack in Metro Manila similar in scale to the = Madrid=20 train bombings.

Police said Redendo was arrested in the first = operation=20 in Makati City, followed by the operation in Fairview, Quezon City. He = said the=20 36 kilograms of TNT were seized from Kosovo, identified as the cell=20 leader.

Before announcing the arrests, Ms Macapagal met briefly = with=20 Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita, = Interior=20 Secretary Jose Lina, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, = General Abaya,=20 Philippine National Police chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane and = other=20 members of the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal = Security.

Lina=20 declined to identify the targets, saying he did not want to unduly alarm = the=20 public.

The arrests were the first major strike of the elite=20 counter-terrorism task force Ms Macapagal recently organized.

She = said=20 the four terrorists were arrested and held without bail on a warrant = issued by=20 Judge Lindo Uy of Pasig City.

'Murderers'
She said the=20 government had witnesses against "these murderers and the cases against = them are=20 strong and air-tight. Follow-up operations are ongoing, they would be=20 relentless."

"Our nation is safer now but we must never relax our = vigilance," she said.

Commending the security teams which made = the=20 arrests, Ms Macapagal said: "This reflects the best of Philippine = intelligence=20 working in fusion with American and foreign allies."

Asked to = explain=20 what damage 36 kilos of TNT could do, Ermita said: "Oh my gosh, they = claim that=20 five pounds of TNT ... can cause casualties to hundreds of people. What = more for=20 36 kilos or 80 pounds, especially if placed in a crowded place. You can = imagine=20 the people that will be (harmed)."

He said the explosives could = be placed=20 in the LRT or MRT trains or in places where people = gathered.

Ermita said=20 authorities were still on their toes to prevent any attack in Metro = Manila and=20 other places.

Holy Week alert
"Remember there is a = forthcoming=20 election, remember even forces other than Abu Sayyaf could very well = create=20 trouble toward the holidays, during the holy week. That's why all armed = forces=20 and the PNP are geared toward identifying and neutralizing them," Ermita = said.

Abaya said about 400 Abu Sayyaf members were still on the = prowl in=20 Mindanao and other parts of the country.

Lt. Gen. Alberto = Braganza, Armed=20 Forces commander for the National Capital Region, said the military was = on alert=20 for possible terrorist attacks in Metro Manila.

Braganza said the = military intended to expand the security cover to include private guards = of=20 subdivisions and residential villages.

He added that the military = would=20 also be conducting training seminars for security guards on terrorism.=20 With a report from Juan Escandor Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon=20 Bureau
=A92004=20 www.inq7.net all rights reserved

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