Muslim groups yesterday condemned an alleged military plot to secretly bomb mosques in the southern Philippines -- one of the claims made by military officers detained for a failed uprising.
Army Captain Milo Maestrecampo, among the detained leaders of the July 27 uprising, told a nationally televised Senate inquiry last week that his commander had ordered him to hurl grenades at mosques in Davao city in retaliation for suspected Muslim guerrilla attacks.
Maestrecampo said he didn't follow the order -- but the mosques were still attacked later. He said that he didn't know who carried out the attacks, but that he suspected other soldiers had heeded the order he'd ignored.
He said the order came shortly after deadly bomb attacks on an airport and a wharf in Davao, a predominantly Christian city 960km southeast of Manila. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a large Muslim separatist group, was blamed.
Military officials said they would investigate Maestrecampo's claim, and others by the renegade officers and soldiers.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said many Muslims were shocked by the claims, and added his group would raise its concerns when the rebels resume peace talks with the government.
"This is why the war in Mindanao probably would not end in the immediate future," Kabalu said, referring to the southern region that is home to the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines' Muslim minority.
"They [the soldiers] don't have any intention to respect those who live here. They don't care at all," Kabalu said.
Abhoud Syed Lingga, president of another Muslim group, the Bangsa Moro People Consultative Assembly, said Maestrecampo's allegation validated complaints of military atrocities against Muslims, who now have another reason to push for an independent Islamic state in the south.
"Can you imagine that?" Lingga asked in disbelief. "Where is our sense of security? If we're not secure in this republic, we better have our own."
The rebels, who seized an upscale residential tower and a mall in Manila's financial center earlier this month, planned their revolt to draw attention to military corruption, incompetence and neglect of combat soldiers -- complaints they claim Arroyo has ignored.
The government has said the uprising was part of a larger political plot to oust Arroyo. The soldiers insist they acted on their own but acknowledge demanding that Arroyo and top security officials step down.
Kabalu said a claim by the mutineers that Muslim guerrillas bought weapons from the military was true.
"About 20 to 40 percent of our military needs come from the military indirectly, meaning through third-party gunrunners who deal with the military," Kabalu told The Associated Press by telephone.
"They really sell. We don't know who because that's not important to us. What is important is we get the materials."
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of