Gov't checking terrorists' presence in Metro Manila
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 07/08/2009 6:13 PM
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MANILA - Police and military units in Metro Manila were placed on full alert status due to intelligence information that members of three collaborating terror groups have slipped into the capital region.
Maj. Gen. Leo Fojas, chief of the Armed Forces’ National Capital Region Command (NCRCom), said military intelligence units are now revalidating information that members of the Indonesia-based terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), Abu Sayyaf bandit group, and an alleged special operations group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have arrived from Mindanao.
Fojas said the military’s unit in Metro Manila have been placed on red alert, which reciprocates the National Capital Region Police Office’s (NCRPO) declaration of a full alert status in the metropolis.
The military commander said that based on the intelligence information, at least four terrorists with special bomb-making skills are now in Metro Manila.
He said the military and the police are now closely monitoring specific areas in the metropolis, but declined to disclose to media for security reasons.
“We have directed our opcon (operational control) units under NCRcom to be on red alert and then we directed them to further intensify our intelligence gathering... We really have to be on guard. We really have to intensify our intelligence operations to monitor who are these people, suspicious people who might be bringing with them some [bomb components],” Fojas said.
Fojas said that under red alert, all troops have to be in their posts and “ready for any contingency.” He said they are coordinating with the Philippine National Police (PNP) for the establishment of checkpoints principally to intercept bombs.
Suspects
The three groups mentioned by Fojas are the same groups being suspected by police as responsible in the three fresh bomb attacks in Mindanao.
Senior Superintendent Leonardo Espina, PNP spokesman, said that aside from the MILF, JI and Abu Sayyaf, they are also determining if the bombings in Cotabato City, Iligan City in Lanao del Norte and Jolo town in Sulu province were carried out by the Al-Khobar group, a local extortionist group blamed for several bombings in the south.
Espina said they have yet to complete post-blast investigation on the three bombings and could not immediately pinpoint a particular group.
National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales also said that without concrete evidence, security forces should not make early statements blaming the MILF, which is being courted by the government to re-enter peace talks.
Gonzales also clarified that authorities do not see a connection between the bombings in Mindanao and the discoveries of two bombs and a bombing incident in Metro Manila recently.
Espina said the police’s Western Mindanao Directorate for Integrated Police Operation have been tasked to lead the investigations in coordination with local crisis management committees in the bomb-hit municipalities.
Chief Superintendent Roberto Rosales, NCRPO chief, earlier said police units in Metro Manila went on full alert at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
On Sunday morning, a powerful bomb went off near a crowded cathedral in Cotabato City. It was followed by a powerful blast near another church in downtown Jolo and another explosion in Iligan City on Tuesday.
At least 13 people died and more at least 80 people injured in the three bombings.
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