Security forces went on full alert in the southern Philippines yesterday, police said, after military intelligence reported that Islamist militants were spotted in the region following the detention of one of their leaders.
Last week, a team of soldiers and police officers arrested Khair Mundos, an expert bomb maker and the “spiritual leader” of the Abu Sayyaf faction, which rose to notoriety in the past decade by kidnapping foreigners.
Mundos was wanted by the US, which put up a US$500,000 bounty up for his arrest.
“Information received with high reliability, revealed a possible terrorist threat to the peace and security Region 11, particularly in Davao City,” national police spokesman Chief Superintendent Reuben Sindac said in a statement. “All police forces in Mindanao have already been alerted to beef-up security operations against possible infiltration of suspected members of said reported threat groups.”
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III called the Davao City mayor to relay the possible threat.
Local officials held a meeting on Saturday night in which security officials assessed the protection at shopping malls, parks and transport terminals.
Road blocks were set up around Davao City, while patrols were also stepped up in General Santos, Cagayan de Oro, Kidapawan and Koronadal.
“We are preparing for possible retaliatory attacks from Islamist militants to avenge the arrest of Mundos,” an army intelligence officer said, adding that they receive the reports of the presence of Islamist rebels in Davao City a couple days ago.
A brother-in-law of Mundos, a member of the militant group’s special operations unit, was seen in the city. He trained under Malaysian bomb maker and Jemaah Islamiah leader Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan and also on the US’ terrorist list.
Manila signed a peace agreement with the country’s largest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, in March, ending nearly five decades of conflict that killed more than 120,000 people, displaced 2 million and stunted growth in the resource rich south of the mainly Catholic state.
However, a small faction of Islamists called the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters has rejected the pact and continue to fight for a separate and independent Islamic state. Marwan is working closely with this group.
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