Philippines Judge Orders Arrest of Muslim Rebels
Fri March 14, 2003 04:48 AM ET
By John O'Callaghan

MANILA (Reuters) - A Philippine judge issued arrest warrants on Friday for scores of Muslim rebels wanted by police in connection with a bombing that killed 21 people last week in the southern city of Davao.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest of four Muslim separatist groups, has denied any involvement in the worst terror attack in the mainly Roman Catholic nation since 22 people died in a series of blasts in Manila in December 2000.

Murder charges have already been filed against MILF chairman Hashim Salamat and 150 of his rebels.

"This court finds probable cause to order the arrest of the accused to stand trial for the crimes charged," Judge Paul Arcangel ruled after reviewing evidence submitted by prosecutors.

Two men were charged shortly after the March 4 attack, but it is far from certain that Philippine security forces will be able to track down -- let alone capture -- the rest of the suspects when they are protected by 12,000 heavily armed comrades.

Experts from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Australian police are helping local teams sift through evidence in Davao to see whether there are links to blasts in October that killed around 200 people on the Indonesian island of Bali.

The U.S. and Australian experts assisted in the autopsy of the suspected bomber, who died along with an American missionary and 19 others, but police have refused to give details of the evidence being examined.

Jemaah Islamiah -- a regional Islamic group linked by Western intelligence agencies to al Qaeda and a prime suspect in the Bali bombings -- may have had a hand in the Davao blast, security officials said this week.

National Bureau of Investigation director Reynaldo Wycoco said there were similarities between Davao and the attacks in Manila in 2000 that led to the jailing of self-confessed Jemaah Islamiah member Fathur al-Ghozi last year.

The Indonesian told Philippine investigators he was helped by MILF rebels.

"The modus operandi is the same," Wycoco said on Wednesday.

The government has offered "the hand of peace" to rebels who renounce violence, but fierce fighting in central Mindanao and the murder charges filed against the 151 MILF guerrillas are unlikely to bring a swift end to three decades of bloodshed.

Malaysia is brokering a new series of peace negotiations but the MILF says it will not talk to Manila directly until troops pull out of a rebel stronghold they captured in mid-February.

(With reporting by Ruben Alabastro)

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