DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist group coordinated with local Islamic rebels to set off the bomb near the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Cotabato City that killed five people and injured 35 others last Sunday, a military official said yesterday.
This developed as police placed under custody a suspect who was nabbed at the parking lot of the cathedral several minutes after the explosion at a food stall outside the church along Quezon Avenue corner Makakua Street in Cotabato City.
Col. Medardo Geslani, commander of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, said that based on intelligence reports, the “most likely” suspects were members of the Indonesia-based JI, which is linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, the special operations group (SOG) of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and rogue MILF guerrillas.
Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr., AFP Public Information Office chief, said that JI-trained members of the MILF-SOG carried out the bombing.
“The bombing in Cotabato City only showed that the MILF-SOG’s plot is now in motion,” Brawner said.
He said the group is led by Basit Usman, who was behind previous bombings in Central Mindanao.
The military said Basit’s group had conducted 56 bombings in Central Mindanao since January.
The STAR obtained a document on counterterrorism, particularly the latest operations of the JI in Mindanao led by Indonesian Imam Lamai, a JI leader; and Abdul Sakim Sali, alias Commander Kidlat who is the team leader of the local JI in the Philippines.
Malaysian Al Poze and another Indonesian identified only as Joling were reported to be the organizers of the JI based in Camp Khalid in Maasim, Sarangani province.
Another Indonesian, Elmer Ambran, alias Elmer Enuran, is the finance officer of JI operations in the Philippines.
A certain Ustadz Usman Colano has also been identified as the local contact of the Imam Lamai.
Indonesian JI bomb experts Dulmatin, whose real name is reportedly Joko Pitono, and Umar Patek, have been hiding in Mindanao since 2003 after they were implicated in the Bali bombings in Indonesia in 2002 that killed 202 people, mostly Australian tourists.
The military has admitted that the JI has remained a threat in Western and Central Mindanao.
Military officials said the JI terrorists have joined forces with some elements of the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf group.
Military sources said the JI and Abu Sayyaf leaders have reportedly been recruiting members from local communities.
Sources said the JI has used Indonesia as the group’s main operations center, while Mindanao is the training ground, and eastern Malaysia is the source of funds of the terrorist group.
Police sources said a certain Guiday Muntasir was among the suspects in the bombing.
Muntasir was arrested by policemen in Cotabato City five years ago after a foiled attempt to bomb the Cotabato City Polytechnic College. He was released after posting bail.
Muntasir has worked as interpreter for JI operative Taufik Refke, who was arrested here in 2004 by the police.
Refke, who rented a house at the San Pablo Subdivision in Cotabato, had trained dozens of JI recruits in handling explosives.
Suspect arrested
Central Mindanao police director Chief Superintendent Josefino Cataluña said the Cotabato City police had arrested Rico Aburva, 34, of Barangay Dalumangcob, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.
Cataluna said witnesses have identified Aburva as one of the bombers.
The Cotabato City police identified four of the five fatalities as Army Sgt. Recillo Collado, Ruby Ramirez, Paolo Kahar and a teenager, Prince Allen Cang-Diaz.
Investigators are now reviewing the tapes of the closed circuit television (CCTV) installed at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas regional office near the cathedral in Cotabato City to check if there is footage of the suspects.
Philippine National Police chief Director General Jesus Verzosa ordered all police units in Central Mindanao to be placed on full alert following the bombing.
He said the police had earlier picked up two persons in connection with the bombing.
One of the two suspects was released for lack of evidence while one was still under police custody.
Verzosa also ordered the local police to coordinate with the crisis management committee chaired by Cotabato City Mayor Muslimen Sema.
Many residents and Chinese-Filipino traders in Cotabato City have appealed to President Arroyo to deploy Marines to the area to prevent violence.
Local residents have apparently lost confidence in the Army’s anti-crime Joint Task Force Tugis, whose headquarters is less than 300 meters away from the site of Sunday’s bombing.
The Marines were deployed in the city from 1997 to 2003 as part of the city’s internal security force that complemented the anti-crime program of Mayor Sema and the local police.
Speaker Prospero Nograles condemned yesterday the bomb attack last Sunday in Cotabato City.
“This cowardly act should be condemned by all, Muslims and Christians alike, and this should serve as a reminder that unless Mindanaoans unite to bring those responsible to justice and end the cycle of terror and atrocities, Mindanao will always remain a land of promise,” said Nograles, who is a resident of Davao City.
House Deputy Speaker for Mindanao Simeon Datumanong, who hails from the second district of Maguindanao, urged residents in the region to be vigilant and to cooperate with the police and military to identify and arrest the bombing suspects.
“It was barbaric and so uncivilized. Let us not point accusing fingers at anybody, any group at this very tense moment. Let us, instead, pool our efforts and help authorities put the bombers behind bars,” Datumanong said.
Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, who was officiating the Sunday Mass at the cathedral when the bomb exploded, appealed for sobriety among all sectors in the city.
“I was to conclude my homily when the bomb exploded,” said Quevedo, a staunch advocate of Muslim-Christian interfaith dialogues and former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Datu Zaldy Ampatuan, chairman of the ARMM’s peace and order council, said he has directed the region’s police director, Chief Superintendent Bensali Jabarani, to help the Cotabato City police in the investigation of the bombing. - With Jaime Laude, John Unson, Roel Pareño, Dennis Carcamo, Mike Frialde, James Mananghaya, Jess Diaz - By Edith Regalado (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)
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