Muslim rebels yesterday warned that a massive military hunt for a suspected Islamic extremist bomber could trigger fighting and threaten planned government-rebel peace talks.
The separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) protested the deployment of soldiers near the front's strongholds in two southern provinces. The troops are searching for Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, an Indonesian suspected in deadly bombing attacks in the Philippines.
Al-Ghozi, who escaped last month from a prison where he was serving a 12-year term for illegally possessing explosives, is a confessed member of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah extremist group.
Government representatives who met with rebels over the weekend said military operations were aimed at capturing Al-Ghozi and were not an attack against the MILF, said the front's spokesman, Eid Kabalu.
The MILF agreed to let the military manhunt continue -- and even offered to help.
But Kabalu said the front feared that some military officials want to undermine planned government-MILF peace talks by accusing the guerrillas of giving refuge to Al-Ghozi and other foreign Islamic militants.
"If we're attacked, we have no recourse but to fight back," Kabalu warned.
A ceasefire between the government and the guerrillas, announced last month ahead of planned talks in Malaysia, has been holding.
Al-Ghozi, along with two suspected members of the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf identified as Abdulmukim Edris and Merang Abante, escaped on July 14.
Edris was arrested and killed during a scuffle with police Thursday in the southern Philippines.
Military officials yesterday denied newspaper reports that they'd captured or killed Al-Ghozi, who has admitted involvement in bombings that killed 22 people in Manila on Dec. 30, 2000.
Police and military intelligence officials have said the MILF, which has been fighting for a separate homeland in the south for decades, has allowed foreign Muslim militants, including Al-Ghozi, to hold guerrilla training in their camps.
The MILF has denied the allegation and publicly renounced terrorism -- a key government demand that led to an agreement last month to resume peace negotiations.
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