Indonesian envoy presses RP to neutralize JI cell

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Indonesian Ambassador Junus Effembie Habibie is pressing the government to "neutralize" the Jemaah Islamiyah terror cell in Central Mindanao.

"These people are our common enemy," he told reporters yesterday.

"We do not tolerate them."

Habibie, who was here to formally take custody of two Indonesians freed from Abu Sayyaf captivity, said his government is closely coordinating with Philippine authorities in the fight against terrorism.

"We are hunting them down," he said. "And they will get no mercy from us."

The Philippine and Indonesian governments have been sharing information and coordinating in the anti-terrorism campaign, he added.

On the other hand, Armed Forces Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza said military intelligence agents have been building intelligence on suspected militants Pitono (alias Dulmatin) and Umar Patek — suspected of participating in the October 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia.

"We have been building intelligence on the two targets among others who are members of the JI who are hiding in Mindanao areas," he said.

However, Braganza cannot confirm any new plots by Dulmatin and Patek to conduct bombings, though he said the terrorists could attack at any given time.

"Dulmatin and Patek were the subject of our surgical strike even in the previous operations," he said.

Braganza said the preemptive strike last January in Datu Piang, Maguindanao left an undetermined number of terrorists dead, but their leaders managed to escape.

Troops on a number of occasions have disrupted meetings between the JI and the Abu Sayyaf, he added.

Braganza did not disclose any specific location where the JI operatives were suspected to be hiding.

Earlier, Deputy National Security Adviser Virtus Gil said two JI militants had sought refuge in Mindanao to evade Indonesian police who had been hunting them for their alleged participation in the Bali bombings in which 202 people were killed, many of them Australians.

Dulmatin and Patek are among the 40 other foreign militants undergoing training and plotting terrorist attacks with local militants, he added.

Military intelligence reports disclosed that Dulmatin and other JI members allegedly met earlier this year with Khaddafy Janjalani and other Abu Sayyaf leaders in Central Mindanao.

Police and military intelligence reports said about 40 of the Indonesian-based militants, including Dulmatin and Patek, had been secretly training local terrorists.

The JI continue to plot bombings in key places nationwide, police added.

Meanwhile, a team of the US-trained Light Reaction Company stormed a suspected JI-Abu Sayyaf meeting place in Central Mindanao but were disrupted by the presence of a rebel faction occupying a nearby base in Talayan town. — Roel Pareño