US puts up $5-M reward for Malaysian terrorist in RP

The US government has posted a $5-million reward for the capture of Zulkifli bin Hir, a Malaysian terror suspect hiding in the Philippines, the State Department announced Tuesday.

"Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has authorized a new reward of up to five million dollars for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Zulkifli bin Hir (a.k.a. Marwan)," the US State Department said in a statement.

Zulkifli, described as "a terrorist believed to be involved in multiple deadly bomb attacks in the Philippines," has been added to the US most-wanted list, joining Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the al-Qaeda network, who has a $25-million bounty on his head.

Zulkifli is believed to have been in hiding since August 2003 in the Philippines, where he is involved in making bombs with the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf.

Zulkifli is among the other senior members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) who have been on the run. He is the current leader of Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM) but has sought refuge in Mindanao.

The other senior JI leaders include Zulkifli Marzuki, JI’s chief financier and Noordin Din bin Mohammed, aka Top.

Zulkifli has provided training to homegrown terrorists in the Philippines who have carried out a series of bombings across Mindanao and Jolo last year that killed over 10 people and wounded 40 others.

He was among those mentioned by Istiada Oemar Sovie, wife of Dulmatin, one of the JI militants being given refuge by the Abu Sayyaf.

Sovie was arrested in a safehouse in Patikul, Sulu. Before she was handed over to the Indonesian government with her two children, she revealed the "triangular relationship" of the JI, the Abu Sayyaf and Moro Islamic Liberation front (MILF).

Sovie claimed there are seven JI members being given refuge by the rebels in Mindanao.

Aside from her husband, Dulmatin and Umar Patek, who are both wanted for the deadly Bali bombings that killed over 200 people in 2002, Sovie revealed Zulkifli and a certain Abdulrahman Ayob are still in MILF-controlled areas.

Born in 1966 in Muar, Johor, Zulkifli, a Malaysian citizen, allegedly heads the KMM terrorist organization and is a member of JI’s central command, the State Department said.

The JI remains Southeast Asia’s most potent extremist group and is believed to have been behind a number of bombings in Indonesia, including attacks on the resort island of Bali in 2002 and 2005 in which more than 200 people were killed.

"Anyone with information on Zulkifli bin Hir, or on any past or planned act of international terrorism against United States persons or property anywhere in the world, is urged to contact the Rewards for Justice program," the State Department added.

The Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiyah groups have been blamed for the worst terror attacks in the Philippines, including the bombing of a ferry off Manila Bay in 2004 that killed more than 100 people.

The Abu Sayyaf group was founded by Afghan-trained firebrand Abubakar Abdurajak Janjalani in the early 1990s to fight for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines.

Based in the southern state of Mindanao, it gained global notoriety following its kidnapping of foreign tourists on a remote Malaysian resort island in 2000.

Zulkifli’s younger brother Taufik bin Abdul Halim, a.k.a Dany, was involved in the 2001 Jakarta Atrium Mall bombing, and currently is in detention in Indonesia, the statement added.

Since it was created in 1984, the US Rewards for Justice program has paid out some $62 million to more than 40 people who have fed US officials vital information leading to the arrest of wanted persons, including informants in the Philippines that have received at least $1.6 million in reward money.

Zulkifli has long been sought by Philippine authorities and last August, two Filipino police officers were killed while trying to approach his suspected hideout. – With AFP, AP, Roel Pareño