PNP braces for possible Sayyaf retaliation

Security forces are now bracing for possible retaliatory attacks by the Abu Sayyaf following the bloody standoff in Camp Bagong Diwa detention center in Taguig that left 23 people dead, including six policemen.

Even as President Arroyo congratulated the police for storming the maximum-security jail and ending a 30-hour uprising led by some of the country’s most hardened terror suspects, an Abu Sayyaf leader chillingly warned of repercussions.

"To you people, you don’t have to bring the war to Mindanao," Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Solaiman told dzBB radio, referring to the military offensives against Muslim extremists in Mindanao. "We will bring it right to your doorstep."

Before the standoff ended, the inmates had warned of bombings in Metro Manila if there was an assault on the jail.

Authorities have downplayed the Abu Sayyaf’s means and willpower to carry out such attacks, repeatedly claiming the group is a spent force. But its violent resurgence — the latest botched jailbreak in Bicutan follows a series of Valentine’s Day bombings claimed by the group — seems to contradict authorities, and has sparked fears of retaliation by the al-Qaeda-linked terror group.

The Valentine’s Day bombings rocked two cities in Mindanao and Makati City, leaving 14 people dead and wounding over a hundred others.

"Of course, that’s our concern," Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Deputy Director General Arturo Lomibao said.

"We hope there are not going to be retaliatory strikes from our Muslim brothers because they know what happened here. We tried to resolve it peacefully. There’s no such thing as persecution or that we are singling them out."

Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes said the government was left with no option but to use force in ending the 30-hour standoff.

"We had no other option left," he said. "We had come to a decision to take the final option."

"We had adequately prepared for this particular offensive. We asked them (the rioting inmates) to surrender their firearms or we would take the option of arresting the perpetrators of the crime."

Reyes said security forces exhausted all peaceful means to resolve the standoff before launching the assault.

Within hours after the assault, authorities said they had implemented tighter security measures in Metro Manila and in key cities across the country.

Policemen in full battle gear had been seen yesterday in several commercial and government establishments.

A PNP intelligence official told The STAR that police are on the lookout for two females carrying explosives stashed in a makeup kit. — With Jose Rodel Clapano