Murder charges readied vs 5 Abus

Multiple murder charges will be filed this week against five suspected Abu Sayyaf members allegedly behind a bomb attack early this month that killed an American soldier and three Filipinos in Zamboanga City, police said.

Superintendent Marvin Bolabola, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the region, said two of the suspects were among the five indicted last week for two other Zamboanga bombings this month.

Police said the two, Madznul Laja and Adbul Hassanul, and their three other cohorts admitted their role in the Oct. 17 twin bombings on two adjacent department stores and in the attack near a Roman Catholic Shrine three days later.

Bolabola said they have three witnesses who recognized Madznul Laja and Adbul Hassanul as among the perpetrators of the bomb attack on a karaoke bar in Zamboanga’s Malagutay district on Oct. 2, killing an American Green Beret commando and three Filipino civilians.

"The witnesses only learned of the identities of the suspects after the five shopping mall bombers were presented to the President on television (last week)," Bolabola said.

Hassanul, Laja and their three confederates will be arraigned today on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives before Judge Jesus Carbon of the Zamboanga regional trial court for the department store and shrine bombings.

At least eight people, including a Philippine Marine, were killed and 176 others were wounded in both attacks.

Bolabola said they will soon file additional charges of multiple murder once they have consolidated their "voluminous" evidence against the suspects.

Police said the suspects were caught last week putting together a bomb in a town near Zamboanga. A manual on making car bombs was seized from the suspects.

"As of now what was filed were just charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives," Bolabola said. The Philippines does not have a law against terrorism and a measure is currently pending in Congress.

Bolabola said Laja was seen by witnesses visiting the Malagutay blast site a day after the attack and Hassanul five days later. Their other co-accused were identified as Amil Hamja Joe, Kenneth Tang and Javier Umang, who remains at large.

Umang is believed to be the leader of an Abu Sayyaf urban terrorist unit under the supervision of senior Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sulaiman, Bolabola said.

Tang denied any involvement in the blast, saying he was not a member of the Abu Sayyaf. He was arrested when the getaway motorcycle used in the Malagutay attack was traced to him.