Military: Abu Sayyaf bent on bombing key areas

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - Government security forces and intelligence units have intensified the monitoring on the movement of the Abu Sayyaf members and their cohorts in the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), revealing the groups' standing bombing plot in key areas, including Zamboanga City.

Col. Andrelino Colina, commander of the anti-terror Joint Task Group Zamboanga (JTGZ), said while there was no plot or attempt intercepted so far, the standing bombing plot of the group continued to threaten the security in Zamboanga City.

“The intelligence community has not intercepted fresh bombing plot but the standing plan of the Abu Sayyaf group is to conduct bombing,” Colina said. 

Colina said the attempts of the terrorist group could be repercussions of the ongoing military offensives in the nearby island provinces of Basilan and Sulu where police and military forces have been relentlessly pursuing them.

The military official said the plot could be in the form of a diversionary attack to ease the military operation pressure against its factions.

Colina said the attack can be also in the form of extortion to pressure its targets which include business establishments and high profile personalities. 

It will be recalled that series of blasts rocked many parts of Isabela and Lamitan in Basilan. 

Colina said part of their campaign is intensifying the operation ‘Bayanihan’ in areas where terror group could easily take shelter.

“We want to make this barangays to be unsafe for the terrorists to seek sanctuary,” Colina said.

City Police Office director Senior Superintendent Angelito Casimiro said the Explosive Ordnance and Disposal units of the police and military were also carefully studying the patterns of bombing attacks to determine if the bombing that hit Zamboanga City previously is connected with the recent bomb explosions that hit Maramag in Bukidnon and in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat.

The police official could not immediately say if there is a designed agenda in the series of bombings that hit in different parts of Mindanao, except that they were looking at extortion as one of the strong motives of the attack.