"We have yet to determine the veracity of the reports about the training because those (came from) western intelligence," an official who asked not to be named said.
He added they were also trying to determine if an Islamic militant group linked to al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiyah — which intelligence officials say operates in Indonesia — is now also operating in the Philippines as police spread a dragnet for more Indonesian suspects.
"The possibility is there but we cannot categorically say, in the absence of concrete evidence," Air Force intelligence chief Col. Francisco Cruz said.
Yesterday, the military confirmed that "terrorists with connections to al-Qaeda" did train in MILF camps before they were shut down in a military offensive in 2000.
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Danilo Servando said, "there were foreigners monitored coming in and out of Camp Abubakar" before it was captured by the military.
"But when the camp was overrun, we have not monitored any further training in the area," he said.
According to Cable News Network, the MILF "has reopened two training camps in the southern Philippines, in addition to one training camp in Indonesia" and that this information was verified by various al-Qaeda operatives now in custody.
In the 1990s, alleged al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden had reportedly asked MILF chairman Hashim Salamat to set up training camps in the Philippines for al-Qaeda because it was becoming harder for his operatives to travel secretly to Afghanistan for training.
Servando, however, yesterday dismissed the report as "an old story."
He added "people with features from the Middle East" were seen visiting another MILF base, Camp Bushra in Lanao del Sur province, aside from Camp Abubakar.
"Before the peace talks, we knew that the MILF was being used by terrorists with connections with al-Qaeda. But after the peace talks, we know that they laid low," he said.
The government and the estimated 12,000-strong MILF are engaged in peace talks brokered by Malaysia.
Philippine National Police intelligence director Chief Superintendent Jaime Karingal said his office had also found evidence of links between al-Qaeda and some members of the MILF.
He added police had not established any link between the MILF "as a group" and Bin Laden’s network. "As a group, no, but as individuals, yes," he said.
Founded by Salamat, the MILF had earlier denied any links to al-Qaeda or any terrorist group. This is the first time that the rebels – who have been fighting for an Islamic state since 1977 – have been linked to Bin Laden.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source also confirmed a report by US broadcaster CNN that al-Qaeda did have a training camp inside Camp Abubakar, the main base of the MILF in Mindanao now in military control.
Citing intelligence documents it had obtained, CNN said the training facility was shut down in mid-2000 when the military captured the MILF base in an offensive. No al-Qaeda camps were reported then.
"Al-Qaeda has no bases in the Philippines, but they have sleepers in Mindanao who will respond to al-Qaeda-friendly Islamic organizations based in Malaysia and Indonesia," the source said. He refused to elaborate as well as reveal how he obtained his information.
CNN said al-Qaeda operatives were involved in the 2000 Rizal Day bombings in Metro Manila, in which scores were killed or wounded in a series of explosions across the metropolis.
Al-Qaeda’s activities in the Philippines and in neighboring countries, intelligence officials told CNN, are part of a larger plan to move al-Qaeda’s base of operations from Afghanistan to Southeast Asia.
The officials said Southeast Asia may now have the "highest concentration" of al-Qaeda operatives outside of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Police have turned over the suspect, Uskar Makawata, and his three other compatriots to the Bureau of Immigration. Officials said the group was behind the deadly bombing of a General Santos shopping mall earlier this year.
"Our investigations show that this man was part of a composite group with JI (Jemaah Islamiyah) on bombing missions to destabilize the country," a security official said.
He was speaking on condition of anonymity a day after the authorities announced the arrest of four Indonesian men in police military raids in General Santos last Saturday.
Makawata insisted he was innocent. "Everything that they are saying is not true. I am just a fisherman," he told reporters, speaking in Filipino. "If you ask me how many thousands of fish I have caught, I will tell you. But I have never killed anyone."
Two Filipino suspects arrested earlier have "implicated" Makawata in the April 21 bombing of the Fitmart shopping mall that killed 15 people and injured 63 others, the bureau said in a statement.
The two Filipino suspects, both members of a Jemaah Islamiyah cell in General Santos, pointed to the 40-year-old Makawata as "one of the Indons and Malays who planned and carried out the bombing," the statement added.
"They said the planning (of the bomb attack) and meetings were conducted in his house," Immigration chief Andrea Domingo told a news conference in which the suspects were presented to reporters.
Makawata has told Philippine investigators that he was born in the Philippines, the statement said. Police also arrested three of his compatriots who recently arrived in General Santos.
Jaka Antarani, Rahman Lebahari, and Julkri Lentembuba are accused of entering the country in July from Tinakaren in the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, using boats owned by their General Santos host Fernando Mohamad Sala. The host has not been detained.
General Santos is a suspected base of a cell of the Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional Islamic militant group outlawed in Malaysia and Singapore and which intelligence sources say operates in Indonesia.
Domingo said the four would be separately charged with murder, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, and illegal entry.
The Philippines has no anti-terrorism law and President Arroyo – a staunch supporter of the US-led global war on terrorism – had earlier urged Congress to pass such a law.
Makawata and his compatriots were the latest among dozens of suspects arrested by security forces in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia in recent months for alleged links to al-Qaeda or Jemaah Islamiyah.
Singapore announced on Monday that authorities had detained 21 terror suspects, including 19 with suspected ties to Jemaah Islamiyah and two who allegedly trained at an MILF base in Mindanao.
Two other Indonesians allegedly linked to Jemaah Islamiyah are already behind bars in the Philippines for illegal possession of explosives.
Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi is serving a 12-year sentence while Agus Dwikarna is undergoing a 17-year prison term. Al-Ghozi is said to have worked as an explosives expert for Jemaah Islamiyah while Dwikarna, an Islamic militant, is believed to have met with associates with al-Ghozi in the Philippines, intelligence officials have said.
But Dwikarna claims Philippine authorities set him up and is appealing his conviction. — With Paolo Romero, Perseus Echeminada, Rey Arquiza, Marichu Villanueva, AFP