Military braces for post-Ramadan attacks

Military intelligence believe the Abu Sayyaf and the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) plan to bomb key targets in Metro Manila and other urban centers nationwide at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Quoting intelligence reports, anti-terrorism sources told The STAR yesterday the terrorists have already pinpointed their targets.

"Intelligence report showed that these terrorists are planning to carry out simultaneous bombing activities after Ramadan," a source said.

However, the source refused to divulge details about the planned terror attack.

Another source said yesterday’s bomb explosion in Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat was just a "dry-run" for wider and bigger attacks in the month ahead.

The terrorists intend to bomb crowded places in Isulan, the capital town of Sultan Kuradat, in Kidapawan, the capital town of North Cotabato and in General Santos City, the source added.

The source said Isulan will be bombed by renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), who had trained under the Jemaah Islamiyah in bomb making and demolition in Mt. Cararao.

The Tacurong bombing that left two women wounded was undertaken by MILF renegades headed by Usman Basit, the source added.

Meanwhile, troops sent to hunt down Abu Sayyaf and JI terrorists holding out in the jungles of Sulu have killed two terrorists.

Maj. Eugene Batara, Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) spokesman, said Army Scout Rangers seized three rounds of ammunition for shoulder-fired 57RR (recoilless rockets), a 40mm ammunition and two sacks of rice in the terrorist hideout Mt. Tunggol in Patikul town.

"The Rangers are trying to defeat the terrorists in tactics and maneuvers with superior capability," he said. — Jaime Laude, Roel Pareño