Fresh JI recruits carried out Mindanao bombings — Gonzales

DAVAO CITY — National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said here Friday fresh recruits and newly trained members of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist network were the ones who carried out the latest spate of bombings in Central Mindanao early this week.

"Investigation showed that the old leaders are still the ones overseeing the entire operations of its terrorist cells operating in the south. But these were actually carried out by new recruits," Gonzales told The STAR.

Gonzales arrived here Friday for a series of meetings with security officials following the recent spate of bombings in Central Mindanao.

Six people were killed and more than 30 others were wounded when bombs went off in Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat and Makilala, North Cotabato last Tuesday and Cotabato City last Wednesday.

Gonzales said names of known terrorists, such as Basit Usman and Abdul Manap Mentang, cropped up during the investigations although they were not reported to have personally carried out the blasts.

"They are said to be the same old faces calling the shots but the young blood carry out the mission," Gonzales said.

Fugitive Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah bombers Dulmatin and Umar Patek were also said to be behind the explosions through the channeling of funds for the operations aside from the training of the new recruits.

The same organizational structure and operational strategy exist within the Jemaah Islamiyah network, Gonzales said. "The center of the JI operations is still in Indonesia. Plans of action are decided in Indonesia," he said.

Chief Superintendent Isidro Lapeña, commander of the police force in Mindanao, said security forces are trying to sniff out where the Jemaah Islamiyah is getting new people.

"We are looking further at these new recruits, who they are and where they come from," he said.

Jemaah Islamiyah funding for its local allies such as the Abu Sayyaf still comes from abroad, particularly from Indonesia and Malaysia, according to Gonzales.

"The funding for these bombing operations still come from foreign sources although these have been hand-carried already and no longer through bank accounts, or couriers where they know they would easily be detected," he said.

The terrorists have changed funding flow with money hand-carried by their contacts from Sabah in East Malaysia. "The ones who bring the money travel from Sabah then to Zamboanga," Gonzales said.

But he pointed out that foreign funding for terrorists in the country may have dwindled in the past months, which might explain the lull in the attacks for a certain period until last Tuesday’s blasts in Tacurong and Makilala.

Gonzales estimated the cost of a bombing attack to be between P10,000 and P20,000.

"It is not that much after all, how much is $200 or $400? So, there really has been a decline in the foreign funding for the terrorists here," he explained.

Scarcity of funding, according to Gonzales, has also forced the terrorist groups to limit their operations to same areas. "It means they do not have that much money for them to get out of their areas and whatever resources they have could only bring them not that far."