Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales in separate interviews said the military operations frustrated the efforts of Janjalani and the two JI militants Dulmatin and Umar Patek to launch more bombing attacks.
They said the Abu Sayyaf, with the help of the two JI militants who are both wanted for the bloody Bali bombings in October 2002, were already in the advanced stages of carrying out the bombings of selected targets in urban areas in the country.
"We were alerted ahead of a possibility of another bombing in some cities in Mindanao and even in Manila," Gonzales said.
"So we took these operations in Sulu... and preempted possible terrorist acts," he said.
Gonzales said they had information that Janjalani and his henchmen were being helped out by the two JI militants as troops prepared for the attacks.
He revealed that the two JI militants were already training homegrown terrorists to carry out the attacks with the bombs to be used close to being fully assembled.
Gonzales claimed the three terrorist leaders have been the subject of surveillance "for some time now."
Ermita, for his part, had admitted the US military had provided intelligence information to the ground troops in Sulu using sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment.
The fact that government troops were able to overrun Abu Sayyaf camps in Sulu where bombs were being made and training was conducted bolstered the information authorities earlier received.
The suspected Abu Sayyaf camps, located in Indanan town, were said to be the places where Janjalani, Dulmatin and Patek are plotting their attacks.
Southern Command chief of staff Col. Mohammad Nur Askalani said the huge cache of high-grade explosives indicated the extremists were set to carry out "widespread bombing."
Ermita said Malacañang’s Anti-Terrorism Task Force had ordered intelligence agencies to validate the information gathered on possible attacks, as well as to strengthen intelligence sharing with foreign governments. — Paolo Romero