JI has tunnel complex in Lanao Sur?

The regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah has reportedly converted a mountain into a tunnel complex just across their former base at Mt. Cararao, Lanao del Sur, a source from the intelligence community said.

In a recent interview, the source who asked not to be named because of the nature of his work, likened the JI’s new base at Mt. Manggaturing in Lanao to the al-Qaeda’s Tora-Bora in the Afganisthan.

Tora Bora is a mountain complex of tunnels and caves in Afghanistan where al-Qaeda chieftain Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding.

“The place is even off-limits to their local recruits. It’s just across Mt. Cararao. They (JI) left Cararao because they know that sooner or later government forces would be able to penetrate the area,” the Mindanao-based source said.

No government troops, despite several attempts, have penetrated the dense jungle and steep ravines of Mt. Cararao if only to verify the presence of the JI training camp.

Aside from the dense jungles and steep ravines, the troops that will be dispatched to Mt. Manggaturing also risk getting ambushed as members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) renegades and their own local recruits heavily guard the area.

The source said local recruits are barred from going to their new base.

“Locals are left in Caracao because they are not allowed to enter the tunnels,” the source said as he asked the military leadership to take immediate and drastic actions against the JIs in the area.

One has to pass through a series of security layers that the terrorists themselves have designed before getting to Mt. Manggaturing.

“One can pass through the place from Bukidnon, or Marawi and Cotabato, but all the entry points are heavily guarded,” he said.

Citing reports received from his “assets”, he said Mt. Manggaturing now serves as the headquarters of all JI operators under Zulkifli bin Hir also known as Marwan.

Marwan has a $5 million dollar bounty put up by the United States  government.

Meanwhile, the alert on possible terrorist attacks in Mindanao remains high as several al-Qaeda-linked terrorist are still holed up in certain areas on the island despite continued military offensives to flush them out.

“There are still JI-affiliated leaders who call the shots for a possible bombing and similar attacks in the south. They still keep rigging bombs in their hideout that would be picked up and delivered by their contacts to their desired site,” said a military intelligence source who requested anonymity.

The same source also told The STAR that fresh funds to finance the attacks had reportedly arrived, paving the way for terrorist elements to carry out bombing missions such as the twin blasts that ripped through a busy commercial center in Kidapawan, North Cotabato last week. – With Edith Regalado