A top Asian terrorist suspect and the Abu Sayyaf extremist group may have deployed militants to bomb targets in the Philippines’ capital, according to a Philippine intelligence report seen yesterday.
Intelligence operatives fanned out in metropolitan Manila to thwart any attack as the military and police said that they were taking the report seriously, although it remains unsubstantiated and comes from only one source.
One of two security officials who were aware of the threat said one date mentioned for the possible bombings was June 12, when the country celebrated its Independence Day, but no attack happened. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.
The heightened alert comes after the US Department of State on Tuesday renewed its travel warning for the Philippines, saying terrorist attacks could occur in the restive south and even in Manila. The US embassy did not cite any specific reason for the latest warning.
The Philippine government has complained that such warnings fail to take into account an improving security situation.
Government troops and police have killed and captured hundreds of Abu Sayyaf militants in the past years and the few recent attacks attributed to them have been mostly confined to far-flung communities on the southern islands of Basilan and Jolo. Surviving militants have been on the run in the jungles and crippled by a lack of funds, the military says.
Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, a long-wanted terrorist suspect believed to be hiding in the southern Mindanao region, and the Abu Sayyaf deployed the militants to bomb still-unspecified targets in Manila, the government report said.
The militants belong to the Abu Sayyaf’s so-called Urban Terrorist Group, which focuses on attacks in cities and other urban areas, the report said.
The military commander in the capital, Tristan Kison, said he has not seen the report, but he added that authorities were constantly on the lookout for any threat from “people with bad intentions.”
Zulkifli, a US-trained Malaysian engineer also known as Marwan, has been accused by the US and Philippine authorities of involvement in a number of deadly bombings in the country.
Washington has offered a US$5 million reward for his capture.
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