Court orders arrest of 6 MILF leaders

Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Salamat Hashim and six other MILF leaders and followers were ordered arrested by a Quezon City judge yesterday.

After issuing the warrants of arrest last Monday, Judge Teresa Yadao of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 81 sent copies to the chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, the director of the National Bureau of Investigation, and the chief of police of Butig, Lanao del Sur.

Of the seven, police have arrested Ismael Climaco Abbas, an alleged MILF member who was tagged as the driver of a car bomb that blew up in front of the Centennial Air Cargo terminal at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City last Dec. 30, one of five blasts that rocked Metro Manila that day.

Government prosecutors charged in court with murder and multiple frustrated murder Salamat, Abbas, Al Haj Murad, MILF vice chairman for military affairs; Ghadzali Jaafar, vice chairman for political affairs; Aleem Aziz Mimbantas; vice chairman for internal affairs; and Saifulla Unos and Mohammed Guindolongan.

Prosecutors charged Salamat and the six based on seized rebel documents detailing a plan to destabilize the government and sabotage the economy through terrorist bombings of malls, plazas, airports, school buildings and mass public transportation. –Romel Bagares