PHILLIPINES: Authorities in the Philippines yesterday seized explosives and arrested four suspected terrorists believed to be plotting to bomb trains, shopping malls and other civilian targets in Manila, according to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, writes Roel Landingin in Manila
"We have pre-empted a Madrid-level attack on the metropolis by capturing an explosive cache of 80lbs," the president said, referring to the March 11th Spanish bombings that killed almost 200 people.
Mr Norberto Gonzales, her national security adviser, said seized documents showed the suspects planned to divide the explosives into about eight packages. "Each package would have been a powerful bomb, enough to derail a train," he said.
He said the suspects belonged to Abu Sayyaf, the southern Philippine organisation believed to be responsible for kidnapping western tourists in 2001. One of those arrested was allegedly responsible for beheading the American hostage Guillermo Sobero in June 2001.
Mr Gonzales said investigators were following up reports that the suspects had links with Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the militant organisation blamed for the Bali bombings in Indonesia that killed over 190 people in October 2002.
The reports, if confirmed, suggest JI is cultivating ties with groups outside the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Muslim separatist group in peace talks with Manila, intelligence sources said. MILF rebels are known to have given JI members explosives training. But since MILF and the government agreed a ceasefire last year, the separatist organisation has come under increasing pressure to renounce ties to the JI. - (Financial Times)