Three Zambo blast suspects with al-Qaeda links captured

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Three men with links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network believed responsible for the Sunday bombing of a row of eateries here that left five dead and 46 wounded are now under government custody, sources said yesterday.

Also yesterday, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said US military personnel are providing "advice and assessment" to the Philippines on dealing with terrorist groups like the Abu Sayyaf.

"We were asked by the Philippine government — as we are by dozens and dozens of governments across the globe from time to time — to have some American military people offering them some advice and assessment as to the kind of problems that the Philippines has been faced with," Rumsfeld said in Washington.

US military advisers were flown over the weekend to nearby Basilan island where Abu Sayyaf bandits have been holding American and Filipino hostages.

Authorities had earlier suspected the Abu Sayyaf of being behind the Sunday bombing until the arrest of the three suspects.

The sources identified one of the suspects as Marvin Johnson, alias Abdul Malik, a Filipino in his mid-twenties who was arrested yesterday by a team of police and National Bureau of Investigation agents in Barangay Karagasan, west of the city.

Seized from Johnson was a list of buildings that appeared to be bombing targets, including malls, churches and markets, a directory of suspected al-Qaeda terrorists as well as explosive chemicals, electronic devices, detonators and cell phones.

"We were expecting at least 30 bombs in his possession but only one was recovered and we believe most of the bombs have been slipped out already," the sources said.

The sources said Johnson is a Muslim convert who is a licensed chemical engineer who graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1996.

Police officials who declined to be named said Johnson denied being a member of the Abu Sayyaf group but claimed to have been trained by al-Qaeda members allied with international terrorist Osama bin Laden.

He said he was just one member of a 40-man terrorist cell operating in Zamboanga and claimed responsibility for similar bombings in the past.

He also claimed that al-Qaeda has already established terrorist cells in Pandacan, Manila and other places in Metro Manila where, he said, they have already planted bombs.

The authorities identified the two other suspects only as Jamil and Jamal, arrested Monday night posing as vendors in the local public market.

The three suspects were turned over to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Leandro Mendoza yesterday afternoon and were to be sent to Manila for further investigation.

The three were arrested a day after the military seized chemical fertilizers which authorities believe to have been used for building bombs.

According to Col. Alexander Yano, chief of the Army’s anti-terrorist unit Task Force Zamboanga, said the 40 kilograms of chemicals were sealed in three boxes that were left near the gate of Zamboanga’s port. – With a report from Edith Regalado