The US State Department has urged Philippine Immigration officials to arrest upon arrival in Manila five suspected al-Qaeda members believed to be involved in the Sept. 11 attacks in the US that left over 3,000 people killed or missing.
The five, four of them identified as Abd-Rahim, Muhammad Sa’id Ali Hasan, Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani and Ramszi Binalshhibh, were reportedly distributing video footage containing a "martyrdom message."
Immigration officials have been furnished photographs of the five suspects through the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The International Police (Interpol) also alerted Manila against Mas Selamat Kasten, 43, who was allegedly on a mission to carry out hijacking operations in Southeast Asia.
Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo has ordered that pictures of the six suspected international terrorists be posted in immigration counters at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and the five other international airports nationwide.
The US State Department and the Interpol said the six suspects might use Manila as a jumping board to other Asian countries being eyed as targets of terrorist operations.
Meanwhile, immigration sources, who asked not to be identified, revealed that a congressman from Lanao del Sur intervened to facilitate the entry into the country of five Middle Easterners and six Indian nationals.
The source said the Middle Easterners consisted of a Jordanian, a Yemeni, a Sudanese and two citizens of the United Arab Emirates.
The group was allegedly whisked to a flight bound for Marawi City after arriving at the NAIA aboard a Qatar Airways flight last week.
Meanwhile, police and military intelligence agents have intensified their monitoring of Islamic schools and other learning centers in Central and Western Mindanao following reports that they were being used by al-Qaeda members to propagate Islamic fundamentalism, fanaticism and terrorism.
At least four Muslim non-government organizations and foundations were also under surveillance for possible links to international terrorist groups.
"We have been closely monitoring their activities right after the Sept. 11 attacks," a source in the intelligence community said.
The source also belied reports that some 35,000 Muslim students in Mindanao have volunteered to undergo guerrilla warfare training to fight Philippine and US forces on the island.
In another development, police launched a manhunt for eight Muslim militants believed to have links to the al-Qaeda who have fled Singapore and sought refuge in neighboring countries, including the Philippines and Indonesia.
A police official, who requested anonymity, said the suspects were members of the militant group Jemaah Islamiah which Singapore authorities said was planning to attack US targets in the city state.
The manhunt was triggered by information from Singapore regarding the group’s escape.
"We are verifying if they are here or they passed through here," the source said.
Singapore authorities described the suspects as Malays in their late twenties to middle thirties, and Muslim religious fanatics.
A suspected leader of Jemaah Islamiah, said to be an Indonesian, and four companions were arrested last week by police in Manila and in southern Mindanao.
Singaporean and Indonesian intelligence officials have arrived in Manila to question the suspected leader.
Reuters reported that about 47 suspects have been arrested in Malaysia and 13 others in Singapore in recent weeks as part of a regional crackdown on Islamic militants. — With Jaime Laude