‘Bali bombers with 3 more JI members’

Three other foreign Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) bomb experts, aside from Indonesians Dulmatin and Umar Patek, are helping train Abu Sayyaf terrorists in bomb making and demolition, the military said yesterday.

Zamboanga City-based Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) spokesman Maj. Eugene Batara said Dulmatin’s wife Istiada Oemar Sovie, alias Amenah Tohe, revealed during interrogation the activities of the three bomb experts, whose names and nationalities were withheld pending further investigation.

In Manila, Armed Forces Public Information Office chief Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said Sovie had also told military interrogators that renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are coddling JI terrorists.

"But we are sure that these are renegade [MILF members]," Bacarro stressed, adding that "while on the run, they (terrorists) enter these MILF (territories). The word is coddle."

He said Sovie had also confirmed military intelligence reports that Dulmatin and Patek are still holed up in the jungles of Sulu.

"Based on the tactical investigation, she disclosed there are three other foreigners who are explosive experts helping Dulmatin in the training," Batara said.

"We have the names but we can not divulge their identities yet as of this time," he said.

One of the three is reportedly hiding with Dulmatin in Sulu while the two are reportedly holding camp in Maguindanao in Central Mindanao.

Military intelligence agents picked up Sovie and her two young sons on Oct. 3 in Patikul in Sulu where government troops have been scouring the jungles since Aug.1 in search of Dulmatin and Patek and Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani.

The military said it will include the three unnamed terrorists in the manhunt.

Batara said they are still checking if the three are included in the country’s list of terrorists. He said it was the first time authorities had heard of the names of the suspected terrorists.

Batara said it was not clear in Sovie’s confession if the three terrorists had arrived with her in the Philippines in March 2003 or with Dulmatin in October 2002, immediately after the Bali bombing in Indonesia.

Sovie also said she had received several text messages from Dulmatin beginning last month. Batara said Sovie claimed her last contact with Dulmatin was in March.

In an interrogation report seen by the Associate Press, Sovie said her husband, together with Patek and a Singaporean Jemaah Islamiyah operative identified only as Manobo, were still hiding on Jolo, the capital of Sulu.

Four other key Indonesian operatives were hiding in Maguindanao, the report quoted her as saying.

Sovie also detailed how she, her children and a sister-in-law fled from Indonesia to Mindanao through Sabah, Malaysia, a few years ago.

The United States has offered a $10-million reward for Dulmatin and $1 million for the capture of Patek.

Washington has deployed troops to Mindanao since 2002 to arm and provide training to Filipino troops battling the militants. US troops also have provided high-tech assistance to track down Indonesian and Filipino militants in Jolo.

Also yesterday, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said Sovie is willing to testify on the activities of her husband and other JI members in the country.

"She said she is willing to testify, but I don’t know how far she is willing to testify. She has given us a statement, but I want this statement translated into the language we understand," Gonzalez said.

Sovie, Gonzalez said, had confessed to being a member of JI herself and that her husband had no plans of surrendering. "She said that her husband will fight it out till the last," Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said Sovie had told him that Dulmatin is fighting the Philippines because it backed the United States’ war on terror, particularly the invasion of Iraq.

Despite her offer to testify, Gonzalez said Sovie will definitely be sent back to Indonesia.

"She has to be deported. I understand that the Indonesian ambassador would like to see her, which she cannot deny herself," Gonzalez said.

He said he had ordered the Bureau of Immigration to turn her over to the military "for safekeeping and for the continuation of the interrogation."

Acting Immigration Commissioner Roy Almoro told The STAR that Sovie and her two sons would be immediately deported for being undocumented and undesirable aliens.

"She (Sovie) has to face the process of our immigration laws and existing policies of the government. We cannot accede to her request (to stay in the country). Even if she’s cleared of any involvement with the terrorist group, the mere fact that she’s undocumented warrants her deportation," Almoro said.

Gonzalez said Sovie was able to enter the country through the so-called back door, possibly from Sandakan in Sabah.

He said Sovie’s entry into the country indicated "failure of intelligence," particularly on the part of the BID.

"Definitely there is failure. I don’t think we can stretch it that far because we have to admit the fact that we cannot control our borders," Gonzalez said.

He said the government is trying to determine the criminal case that may be filed against Sovie. "That is what we are trying to evaluate if she is guilty of some offense considering that her husband is fighting the government and she herself said that. She told me straight that her husband will not surrender in a fight," Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said he had given the military three weeks to finish its interrogation of Sovie.

Meanwhile, the MILF wants Sovie to explain why she is linking the group to JI.

"That’s our primary purpose on why the MILF wants access to her," said MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu.

"The MILF has repeatedly been tagged as coddler of JI operartives, an accusation so derogatory and baseless," Kabalu said.

"We want to have a dialogue with the jailed wife of Dulmatin and, possibly, hear from her on why there are efforts by certain groups to unduly project a connection between the JI and the MILF when, in fact, there is none," Kabalu said.

The government and the MILF are negotiating to end the decades-long Muslim secessionist struggle in Mindanao.

The peace talks started on Jan. 7, 1997 but gained momentum only three years ago with the entry of Malaysia as third-party mediator. — With reports from John Unson, Edu Punay, Jose Rodel Clapano, James Mananghaya, AP