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A plot to bomb the U.S. embassy in Manila was disrupted on Thursday with the arrest of three militant members of a break-away faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) with links to Jema'ah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian terror group with ties to Al-Qaida.

The three were alleged to be plotting to attack the embassy using a bomb triggered by a cell phone. The suspects were identified as Abdul Manap Mentang and his live-in partner Monwara Usop, and Mursid Mubpon a.k.a. Guinaid Daud and Double M. These three were also accused of carrying out the 2003 bomb attacks at the Davao City airport that killed 23 and wounded 127, and at the Sasa wharf where 19 were killed and 39 wounded.

Authorities said Usop and Mubpon cased the U.S. embassy on September 23, 2004. Mubpon was tasked with the assignment of designing the bomb-triggering mechanism using a cell phone. Mubpon confessed to being a member of an MILF elite group and a demolitions expert trained by JI.

Mentang also admitted being an MILF member and part of a group of the MILF trained at Camp Hudaybuyah in Butig, Lanao Del Sur in basic demolition for urban terrorism by JI leader identified only as Zulkifli (who was arrested by the authorities in Malaysia late last year). Mentang admitted to assembling bombs used at the Davao airport and Tagum City Hall on March 4, 2003, and also at the Sas wharf on April 2 of the same year. Mentang also claimed that Zulkifli had ordered the bombings, provided the targets and instructed him to get the TNT from Abdul Jabidi (alias Bedz).

Mentang said it was Jabidi who had provided him with the explosives used in the bombings of Fitmart Department Store in Tacurong City in 2002, the Awang Airport in Cotabato City in 2003, and the Parang Gymnasium in Parang, Maguindanao in March, 2004.

The funding of these activities is said to have come from an international source. On January 29, 2004, Irish police arrested one Jaybee Ofracio in Belfast. Ofracio is believed to have transmitted funds to JI operatives in the Philippines. Mentang was one of the ones who was said to have received fund transfers from Ofracio.

Jabidi is believed to be hiding in an MILF camp in Paglas, Maguindanao, along with at least four Indonesians alleged as JI members: Usman or Rizal, Zacky or Jack (these two are believed to be in the Kapatagan area in the boundary of Lanao and Maguindanao), Samrud Al Ormatan a.k.a. Marwan and Abdul Rati Talanghati a.k.a. Bigok (this second pair is thought to be in the vicinity of Upper Idtig, Paglat, Maguindanao).

Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza, commander of the Armed Forces National Capital Region Command, said that the threat to the U.S. Embassy and other vital installations had not subsided.

Sources: "Plot to Bomb US Embassy in Manila Foiled," Karl Lester M. Yap, Business World (Philippines), October 22, 2004; and "AFP claims 3 arrested ‘JI’ men were trained by MILF," Fernan Marasigan, ABS-CBN.

Labels: Jema'ah Islamiyah, Manila, MILF, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Philippines

The July 14 escape of bomber Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi and two Abu Sayyaf terrorists from a Manila jail was far too easy. There was no question of the importance of al-Ghozi. A militant operative of Jemaah Islamiyah, al Ghozi was serving a 17-year jail term for killing 22 in a December 2000 bombing of a rail coach in Manila. His two companions, Abdul Mukhim Edris and Omar Opik Lasal, were members of a terrorist group that openly boasted of financial ties to Saddam Hussein. Remarkably, an international terrorist could simply walk out of his jail, unnoticed, leaving the cell gate locked behind him. His absence was not noticed until the next morning.

Initially, investigators assumed that the prisoners had a set of keys, so that they could (politely?) lock the gate behind them. Possession of keys proved pointless, however, when it was discovered the locked gate could be lifted off of its hinges and opened easily.

As more details emerged from the Philippines, the escape looked to be more the result of conspiracy than incompetence. Abu Ali, ex-prisoner and member of Abu Sayyaf turned state witness, was hired as a "utility boy” at the jail and granted access to all of the cells. He confessed to telling al-Ghozi about the defective gate.

Guards were first said to be asleep, drunk, or out getting snacks. One of the guards who had said he was sleeping, however, has since changed his story. Ronald Palmeras now claims he was called away from his post at midnight by his supervisor. A sinister footnote: though Palmeras has asked to go into the witness protection program, his request has been denied on the absurd grounds that police officers do not need protection.

Supt. Reuben Galban, dismissed chief of the Intelligence Group’s Foreign Intelligence Liaison Office, admitted to having returned to Camp Crame around the time of the jailbreak, but denies any involvement. It was Galban, however, who had moved al-Ghozi out of a higher-security cell.

Rumors that Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director-General Hermogenes Ebdane was meeting in Mindanao with people handling al-Ghozi, or that Ebdane already had al-Ghozi in custody were also vehemently denied.

Frustration with widespread corruption is affecting military morale in the war on terror. Ten junior officers attempted a coup today against the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Storming a shopping center, they planted explosives and released a video to telelevision stations in which they

accused the Philippine military of selling ammunition to rebel groups, such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Abu Sayyaf and the communist New People's Army. "The bullets killing our comrades came from the Armed Forces of the Philippines," a voice on the tape said. "The real terrorists are in our government."
Rogue Officers Storm Commercial Center in Manila

The coup was eventually foiled , though only two of the junior officers have been captured so far.

In the midst of all this unrest, plans are said to going forward still for the visit of President Bush to the Philippines in October.

Labels: Abu Sayyaf, Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Jema'ah Islamiyah, Jemaah Islamiyah, Manila, MILF, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Philippines, Saddam Hussein