BI: Abu Sayyaf, JI team up

Having a common objective, the Jemaah Islamiyah and the Abu Sayyaf have joined forces to unleash a terror campaign in Mindanao, Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia, Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo said yesterday.

Domingo said Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) is enticing Filipino Muslims with money to join the group and undergo training in terrorism.

"They get two things: one, money, and two, training," she said.

Speaking at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport during the send-off for President Arroyo who is flying to Mexico City, Domingo said the Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf had teamed up last August.

"We also believe that the Abu Sayyaf and the JI have joined together to come up with a comprehensive plan of terrorist activities targeting American interests in Southeast Asia and the Phi-lippines, in particular," she said.

Domingo also said Filipinos occupy key positions in Jemaah Islamiyah’s terrorist network in Southeast Asia and they could have taken part in the planning, organization and execution of recent terrorist bombings in Metro Manila and Zamboanga City.

"There are Filipinos who could be high-ranking in the terrorist group operating in Southeast Asia and could have participated in the comprehensive terrorist plan," she said.

Domingo refused to name the top Filipinos in Jemaah Islamiyah, saying government intelligence is investigating the information from its counterparts in other Asian countries where suspected al-Qaeda terrorists are detained.

Manila has yet to get evidence linking Jemaah Islamiyah to the bombings in Bali, Indonesia, and in Zamboanga City and Metro Manila, Domingo added.

The US government said the goal of Jemaah Islamiyah is to establish an Islamic state to comprise Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Mindanao.

In a statement posted in its website, the US State Department said

Asian nations, along with the US and Australia have asked the United Nations to place Jemaah Islamiyah in the list of terrorist organizations subject to international sanctions.

"This joint referral to the UN sanctions committee is a powerful signal that the countries of Southeast Asia will not tolerate terrorism on their territory and that they are committed to working with the international community to put a stop to wanton acts of terror," read part of the statement.

"The United States will join Australia, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Timor Leste (East Timor), and other partners around the world to ask the relevant United Nations sanctions committee to include JI on its consolidated list of individuals and entities the assets of which member states are required to freeze in accordance with UN Security Council Resolutions 1267 and 1390."

The UN Security Council Resolutions require all member states to take action against these organizations, including freezing its assets and denying them access to funds and other financial assets or economic resources.

Once an organization is declared as a terrorist, the US government would be able to block its assets in American institutions and its members barred from entering the US.

Under Executive Order 13224, the US government is authorized to block the assets of entities found to be owned or controlled by Jemaah Islamiyah.

The same action would be taken against individuals who would be identified as acting on behalf of the Indonesian-based terrorist organization.

Meanwhile, a close aide of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani told police yesterday his former comrades could have carried out the bombing of a passenger bus in Balintawak, Quezon City last week.

Mark Bokerin Gumbahale, who was arrested in Taguig, identified them as a certain Abu Sulaiman, Abu Musa, and Abu Ismael.

Gumbahale has been arrested as a suspect in the Rizal Day bombings that killed and injured scores in a series of explosions at the Light Rail Transit station in Blumentritt, Sta. Cruz, Manila and various places in Metro Manila on Dec. 31, 2000.

Last Thursday, Gumbahale also identified in Camp Crame, where he is detained, one of the five suspects in the spate of terrorist bombings in Zamboanga City as his "former comrade" in the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan. – With reports from Aurea Calica, Jaime Laude, AFP