Investigators believe the attacks were staged to divert government troops in Sulu from their pursuit of two JI members wanted for the 2002 nightclub bombings in Bali, Indonesia. Dulmatin and Umar Patek are on the run in the jungles of Sulu together with Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani.
The pursuit of the three fugitives, who have a combined bounty of $16 million on their heads, has led to the capture of Dulmatin’s Indonesian wife and their two sons in Sulu. Her capture has raised hopes that the two Bali bombers as well as Janjalani will soon also fall. Government forces say the terrorists left behind as they fled makeshift facilities for manufacturing improvised explosive devices. Bomb-making is the specialty of Dulmatin and Umar Patek, who before they were hunted down in Sulu were training recruits in bomb-making in MILF-protected areas.
MILF leaders who are negotiating peace with the government have consistently denied their group’s involvement in JI activities in this country. The MILF insists that JI training camps were dismantled after government forces captured all MILF enclaves in 2000. But captured terror suspects and informants keep linking the group to JI and Abu Sayyaf attacks, including the deadliest ones in Metro Manila and Davao. Either MILF leaders are lying or they have no control over their members. This bodes ill for peace prospects in Mindanao. If separatist leaders cannot discipline their members, they have no business negotiating with the government on behalf of militants beyond their control.