GMA pressures police, military to capture escaped terrorist

Account for Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi at the soonest possible time, preferably before the visit next month of US President George W. Bush.

This was the order President Arroyo reiterated to police and military authorities, almost two months after the convicted Indonesian bombmaker escaped from his jail from a police camp, and rumors about either his capture or slaying have filled the airwaves.

"We were lso ordered to harmonize all our efforts in accounting Al-Ghozi the soonest possible time," a police general said.

The President’s directive — short of an ultimatum — indicated her growing impatience overa the continuing failure of both the AFP and PNP to "produce" Al-Ghozi in time for the Bush visit in October.

Armed Forces vice chief and spokesman Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, on the other hand, said the AFP is setting no timetable in its ongoing efforts to rearrest Al-Ghozi.

But he assured the people that the AFP is doing all it can to recapture the convicted and self-confessed Jemaah Islamiyah bomb expert.

In Zamboanga City, the military said reports that Al-Ghozi had died could be a ploy to divert the attention of troops out to recapture him.

"Maybe this is part of a disinformation campaign," said Brig. Gen. Rodulfo Diaz, Armed Forces Southern Command vice chief.

Al-Ghozi is still alive and hiding in Central Mindanao, moving from one place to another to evade government troops, he said, quoting various intelligence reports from places where the Indonesian had been spotted.

Diaz was reacting to a claim of a Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commander that he had Al-Ghozi in custody prior to his death.

"All intelligence reports should be given credence," he said.

Garcia, on the other hand, said the alleged MILF commander spreading the canard about Al-Ghozi’s death was "talking through his hat. The MILF themselves claimed they have no such commander."

Garcia said if Al-Ghozi had indeed been killed, the military would be "more than happy to announce this" since it would be "a feather on our cap."

Intelligence sources said Al-Ghozi is trying to slip out of Central Mindanao to evade a military operation that had been launched to recpature him.

But Deputy Director General Virtus Gil, PNP deputy chief for operations, said the PNP has asked the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Australian Police to determine if the body is really that of Al-Ghozi.

The PNP wants to be sure that the slain rebel is not Al-Ghozi as confirmed by forensic experts in the PNP and the Armed Forces, he added.

Gil said the FBI and the Australian Police have the capability to find out if the rebel killed in fighting in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao on Sunday was Al-Ghozi.

They would also like to establish the identity of the slain rebel, he added.

Earlier, Gil said the fingerprints lifted from a body recovered by troops at the scene of fighting in Sultan Kudarat town did not match those of Al-Ghozi’s on the PNP files.

"We matched the fingerprints (from the body) with those in our records," he said. "They did not match."

The MILF said Al-Ghozi was killed in a clash with government troop in Sultan Kudarat town on Sunday.

Lt. Col. Romeo Tanalgo, commander of the 5th Marine Battalion Landing Team (MBLT), said his men had stormed Tuesday the hideout of an armed group which is believed to have given sanctuary to Al-Ghozi in the jungles of Tungawan, Zamboanga Sibugay Province.

"There might be a possibility that this armed group was guarding Al-Ghozi," he said. "This is a possibility, but not a probability."

The gunmen, who were believed to be setting an observation post, scampered and evaded combat, he added. — Roel Pareño, Lino dela Cruz, Christina Mendez, Mike Frialde