Philippine forces yesterday captured a suspected Indonesian would-be suicide bomber believed to be involved in a “very imminent” plot to attack a southern town, officials said.
Army troops and police arrested Rezky Fantasya Rullie with two Filipinas — suspected to be the wives of Abu Sayyaf militants — in a house in Jolo, where they found an explosive vest and bomb components, the Western Mindanao Command said.
The military announced that Rullie’s husband, Andi Baso, who is wanted in the Philippines and Indonesia for his alleged involvement in bomb attacks, was killed in an Aug. 29 clash near Patikul.
Philippine troops have intensified a search for would-be bombers in the restive south following nearly simultaneous suicide attacks by two women militants that killed 15 people and wounded 75 others in August in Jolo — the country’s worst extremist attack this year.
The two women who carried out the Aug. 24 suicide attacks in Jolo were the wives of Abu Sayyaf militants who had died, reflecting how extremism has involved families in some cases.
“It has become a family affair for a few who have allowed themselves to be wrongly indoctrinated,” Philippine Army Chief Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana told reporters.
At least eight other foreign militants in Sulu and Maguindanao provinces are being hunted by government forces, Sobejana said, adding that they include militants from Indonesia and Egypt.
Rullie was involved in a “very imminent” plot to carry out a suicide attack in Jolo before her arrest, Sobejana said without elaborating, adding that Indonesian authorities are aware of Philippine efforts to locate and capture Indonesian militants in the southern Philippines.
The Philippines has blacklisted the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organization for bombings, kidnappings for ransom and beheadings.
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