Terrorists may have slipped in with deportees?

Al-Qaeda terrorists from Indonesia and Malaysia may have slipped into the country disguised as deportees from Sabah and mingled in Muslim communities in Mindanao and Metro Manila.

Undersecretary Zamzamin Ampatuan of the Office of Muslim Affairs said the terrorists could be spending time in different Muslim communities while awaiting orders to strike at military and civilian targets.

"Mass movement like deportation and even the pilgrimage (to Mecca) could be the best vehicle for the terrorist to move around undetected," he said.

Ampatuan said government security agencies must double their efforts to ferret out terrorists from Muslim communities to neutralize the threat, particularly in urban areas.

"Unless you win the confidence of the Muslim in certain areas, they will never cooperate nor reveal the identities of the terrorist in their localities," he said.

Ampatuan said the war against al-Qaeda and other terrorists is actually a war for the minds and hearts of people in the affected areas.

"As of now, the Islamic extremist view has become very dominant among the Muslims, a factor which may be exploited by terrorists," he said.

Ampatuan said the strong influence of Islamic extremism in Mindanao has bred the Abu Sayyaf and other local terrorist groups.

"Islamic extremism will be with us for a long period of time," he said.

Ampatuan said he has received reports that certain groups have used the pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia as a vehicle to move to key areas in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

"There are attempts to politicize the annual pilgrimage but the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia strongly resisted the move," he said.

The so-called "invisible intelligence approach" should be used in mobilizing people to identify terrorists within their communities, Ampatuan added. –Perseus Echeminada