Abu Sayyaf leader nabbed

ZAMBOANGA CITY (AFP) -- A Muslim extremist who allegedly masterminded a series of bomb attacks in the southern Philippines last month has been arrested, police said yesterday.

Hadjirul Ampul, a ranking member of the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf, was wanted in connection with bombings in Basilan province which killed one person and wounded 17.

The suspect was captured along with two followers after a raid on an Abu Sayyaf hideout in Basilan on Wednesday, provincial police director Superintendent Akmadul Pangambayan said.

Apart from the bombings last month, Ampul was wanted for a series of murders and is the sixth most wanted criminal in the main southern island of Mindanao, carrying a P200,000 reward for his arrest, Pangambayan said.

Pangambayan said the Abu Sayyaf unit headed by Ampul was allegedly behind the bombings of a restaurant and two police stations in Basilan's capital of Isabela on Feb.20.

One person died while 17 others, including two police officers and three village chiefs, were wounded in the blasts.

Abu Sayyaf, which operates mostly out of Basilan and nearby islands, is the smaller of two Muslim rebel groups fighting for an independent Islamic state in the South.

The larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has been accused by the military of planting bombs on two buses travelling aboard a ferry off the port of Ozamiz last week, killing 45 people.

The MILF, which on Thursday concluded the second round of formal talks with Manila without any concrete agreements, has denied the accusations, saying that attacking civilians was not its practice.

National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre ruled out yesterday large-scale operations against the MILF following the bomb attacks, saying police and military in the South were only told to be "more vigilant and to undertake preemptive and necessary security patrols and measures."

"We would like this thing also to be prevented by simply continuing the investigation in Mindanao and undertaking only the appropriate action that is necessary," Aguirre said.

"There will be no such large-scale military operations as people might be thinking. The reaction will just be an investigation and finding out who are responsible and bringing them to the courts of law," he added.