Terror group using women for extortion

Koronadal City – Al-Khobar, a newly formed local terrorist group, which reportedly has ties with the Indonesian terror cell Jemaah Islamiyah, is using women for extortion and bombings in Central Mindanao, a police official said.

“Yes, they are now using and training women how to carry out bombing missions for their extortion activities. Their targets are the bus companies,” Superintendent Joel Limson, Tacurong City police chief, told The STAR in a phone interview, citing intelligence reports.

Limson cited last Wednesday’s explosion that ripped through a unit of Yellow Bus Lines (YBL) in Tacurong, resulting in injuries to a passenger and two passersby.

It was the second attack on a YBL bus in two weeks. No one was hurt in the first incident.

Limson cited witnesses’ accounts that they saw a woman seated in the bus’ rear section and that the blast occurred minutes after she had gotten off.

Limson said the female recruits of Al-Khobar carry “powerful small bombs” which authorities can hardly detect. The explosives contain “nails” to maximize the number of casualties, he added. 

Military officials in Sultan Kudarat corroborated Lim­son’s statements, also citing intelligence reports.

Olimpio Par, YBL operations officer, recalled that minutes before the Tacurong explosion, a male caller asked, “Kumusta na ang transaction?”

Par suspected the caller to be an Al-Khobar member. He refused to say though how much was the group demanding from his company. Sources, however, said Al-Khobar demanded P2.5 million in monthly “protection money.”

Al-Khobar has also owned up to the bombings of several units of the Weena Bus Co. in Cotabato City, Matalam in North Cotabato, and Bansalan in Davao del Sur, which left at least 12 people dead and more than 40 others wounded.