Military watching 19 new grads from JI camps in Mindanao

DAVAO CITY — Military intelligence units are monitoring the movements of new recruits of the Jakarta-based Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group who have just "graduated" from training in a camp of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Mindanao.

Highly placed intelligence sources told The STAR that 19 JI recruits finished their training at an MILF camp last Jan. 15.

The new graduates, sources said, will be deployed to the existing number of JI cells in the country, mostly scattered in Mindanao.

The military reported earlier that 300 JI militants are now deployed in the country operating as individual cells.

"We knew there was a graduation that took place last Jan. 15. We just couldn’t divulge where they have exactly conducted the training," the source said.

Other sources, however, disclosed that the supposed JI graduation took place in the hinterlands sprawling the boundaries of Lanao provinces and Maguindanao.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu denied the reports claiming this is another spin off by the military to discredit the rebel group that they are involved in terrorist activities.

"The problem with (the military) is they say a lot of things linking us with the JIs which they could not prove. This time, they should specify where are these JIs holding their training," Kabalu said.— Edith Regaldo