AFP claims 3 arrested ‘JI’ men were trained by MILF

The Asian terror group Jema’ah Islamiyah (JI) is planning to bomb the US Embassy in Manila and other “high impact” targets in Metro Manila using cellular telephone-triggered explosives, a threat which authorities said has not subsided.

The military revealed this Thursday after presenting three local terrorists with JI links who were tagged as responsible for the Davao City bombings last year that left 32 civilians dead and 166 others wounded.

Military authorities said Abdul Manap Mentang and his live-in partner Monwara Usop, and Mursid Mubpon a.k.a. Guinaid Daud and Double M, allegedly carried out the bomb attacks at the Davao City airport which killed 23 people and wounded 127 others; and at the Sasa wharf, where 19 people perished and 39 others were wounded.

During a news conference at Camp Aguinaldo where the suspects were presented to journalists, authorities said Usop and Mubpon cased the US Embassy on September 23, or two weeks after the third anniversary of the infamous 9/11 attacks in Washington and New York.

Mubpon was also tasked to design a bomb-triggering mechanism using a cellular telephone.

Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza, commander of the Armed Forces National Capital Region Command, who was present in the news conference, said the threat at the US Embassy and other vital installations has not subsided.

Mentang was arrested by joint elements of the Armed Forces and the National Police on October 6 on Fabie Street, Santa Ana, Manila. He is reportedly a bomb expert of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a JI local contact and head of the Davao terrorist cell.

Mubpon, was captured during a follow-up operation on October 7. He confessed to being an MILF elite group member and a demolitions expert trained by the JI.

During tactical interrogation, Mentang admitted being an MILF member and claimed he was in the first batch of MILF members trained in basic demolition for urban terrorism at Camp Hudaybuyah in Butig, Lanao Del Sur, in 1995 by JI leader Zulkifli.

He said he assembled the bombs that simultaneously exploded at the Davao airport and Tagum City Hall on March 4 last year; and that which exploded at the Sasa wharf on April 2 also last year.

Mentang also admitted that Zulkifli ordered the bombings, provided the targets and instructed him to get the TNT from Abdul Jabidi alias Bedz. Jabidi was also the source of the explosives used in the bombings of FitMart Department Store in Tacurong City in 2002, the Awang Airport in Cotabato City last year and the Parang Gymnasium in Maguindanao early this year.

Jabidi is still 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, Samrud Al Ormatan a.k.a. Marwan and Abdul Rati Talanghati a.k.a. Bigok.

“These foreign nationals are equally responsible for the bombings and should answer for the criminal offenses committed against the innocent Filipino people,” said Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero, chief of the Armed Forces public information office.