Fresh JI landings in South checked

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The police and military are on the lookout for Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants following reports that a fresh batch slipped in through the country’s southern backdoor.

Western Area Police Command (WAPC) chief Director Vidal Querol cited intelligence reports that some JI militants have started training Abu Sayyaf extremists in the jungles of Central Mindanao.

Querol said the WAPC is now focusing their hunt on the provinces of Agusan del Sur, Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and the Zamboanga peninsula.

Querol would not confirm the intelligence report but stressed that efforts to track down the militants and their local trainees have intensified.

"If, indeed, the report is positive, we cannot divulge the information because of the possibility it may preempt our efforts to stamp out the terrorists," he said.

Querol made the statement after Sen. Panfilo Lacson disclosed over the weekend that 26 JI militants had landed in Mindanao and were training recruits from the Abu Sayyaf bandit group as well as diehard guerrillas from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Lacson claimed he had received reports about the arrival of the JI militants last Jan. 5. The group was led by Abdulkiran Nawaz and Mujair al-Ghozi, the brother of Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi who was killed during an encounter with the military in North Cotabato months after he escaped detention in 2003.

Lacson claimed some rogue MILF leaders facilitated the arrival of the JI militants to Camp Mangaturing, the alleged terror-training center located in the boundaries of Upper Minabay, Buldon and Kapatagan towns in Lanao del Sur.

Armed Forces Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza said he would not hesitate to launch preemptive strikes once the reports are confirmed and the terrorist locations are spotted.

"We will look closely into the report as we are doing in Central Mindanao," he said.

Braganza earlier ordered intensified air strikes on suspected terror camps maintained by the JI in Datu Piang, Maguindanao that reportedly killed 48 extremists. Reports said among those killed were the JI militants wanted for the Bali bombing in Indonesia in 2002 that left over 200 people killed and scores injured.

Commodore Rufino Lopez Jr., commander of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao, disclosed reports that the JI militants usually enter the Philippines using the outlying islands of Malaysia and Indonesia as transit points.

Lopez said Malaysian authorities have already implemented tighter security measures particularly along the sea border between Sabah and Tawi-Tawi.

But so far, no JI militant has been arrested by Malaysian or Philippine security forces, he said.

Lopez said the Malaysian government had tightened its security after the Sipadan hostage incident in 2000 in which dozens of tourists were taken hostage by the Abu Sayyaf group.

"The reports of the landing of supposed JI members (focus) more on Central Mindanao," Lopez said.

"Reports have it (the JI) usually use the Indonesian islands to come to Mindanao," he added.