ASSOCIATED PRESS, Tue, Apr 06, 2004
AP: Terror Group Trained in Indonesia
By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writer
MANILA, Philippines - Indonesian Islamic militants taught dozens of Abu Sayyaf
recruits how to make cell phone-triggered bombs and other terror skills while dodging
helicopters and troops in a jungle camp last year, one of several former hostages told
The Associated Press.
About 40 men completed the bomb-making course and 60 were taught sniping and
combat techniques from late 2002 to the middle of 2003 by two unidentified
Indonesians, who officials believe were members of the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah
Islamiyah network, the ex-hostage said.
The eyewitness accounts by Rolando Ulah and several other Filipinos once held by
Abu Sayyaf provide a glimpse into clandestine terror training by suspected militants
with ties to al-Qaida and to rebels in the southern Philippines, home to this mostly
Roman Catholic nation's Muslim minority.
Philippine authorities have long suspected that Jemaah Islamiyah, the
Indonesia-based al-Qaida ally, has links with the brutal Abu Sayyaf and the larger
Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a Muslim separatist group accused of providing
sanctuary and training grounds to foreign militants.
Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for numerous attacks and plots across Southeast
Asia, including the Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people. Jemaah Islamiyah
seeks to establish a hard-line Islamic caliphate comprising Malaysia, Indonesia,
Singapore and the southern Philippines.
The Abu Sayyaf, known for kidnap-for-ransom schemes, has been blamed for
bombings in the Philippines, including an attack in 2002 outside an army camp in
southern Zamboanga city that killed an American Green Beret and two Filipino
civilians. It has claimed responsibility for an explosion and fire on a ferry a month ago
that killed more than 100 people.
According to the former hostage accounts, training started with a dawn jog and was
capped at night by an Arabic reading of the Quran, the Muslim holy book and prayers
led by the Indonesians, who spoke a smattering of Tagalog, English and Arabic. Their
yells of "Allahu Akbar," or God is Great, echoed through the jungle as they trained,
Ulah told AP.
"They were taught sniping, combat, tae kwon do and dismantling bombs and making
bombs that could be set off using cell phones and alarm clocks," said Ulah, who
escaped from the Abu Sayyaf last June after more than three years of captivity on
southern Jolo island.
The Indonesians taught the young guerrillas, mostly recruits from Jolo and the nearby
island of Basilan, how to safely open mortar rounds or unexploded bombs dropped by
Philippine air force planes and picked up by villagers, who sold them to the rebels.
The explosives could be rigged as timed bombs or their powder could be used to
make separate bombs, he said.
Breaking into smaller groups, the recruits were taught to make bombs that could be
remotely detonated using mobile phones or alarm clocks. Such bombs, made using
soldering irons and other electrical equipment, were detonated in explosive tests in
the jungle, he said. Ulah said the homemade bombs he saw were made from mortar
rounds and unexploded bombs dropped by twin-propeller OV-10 Bronco attack
planes.
The recruits also were taught to use the locally available M16 and M14 rifles as well
as the grenade-firing M203, aiming at red targets on trees, he said. The training
occasionally was disrupted by troops.
"Sometimes a Sikorsky (helicopter) would fly over and everybody would run for cover
to avoid being seen. After it passed, they would resume training again," Ulah said.
The training, mostly at temporary encampments on Mount Buod Bagsak, in Jolo's
coastal town of Patikul, was witnessed by three other former captives, including a
sailor who escaped last year and told military interrogators the trainers were fellow
Indonesians.
Ulah, 44, and four other hostages surfaced Monday when they were called by
authorities to identify some of six alleged Abu Sayyaf guerrillas who reportedly were
planning Madrid-style bombings in Manila. They sat down with AP on Monday for
interviews.
Abu Sayyaf chief Khaddafy Janjalani left Jolo aboard boats with the two Indonesians
and about 40 of the newly trained guerrillas a month before he escaped in June, Ulah
said. The military, sometimes helped by U.S. surveillance planes, has been hunting
Janjalani since.
Former hostages also disclosed seeing two Arab nationals who met Janjalani and
stayed with the guerrillas for about a month in 2001 on southern Basilan island, where
the rebels had a strong presence until they were crippled and displaced by
U.S.-backed assaults. Basilan is near Jolo and Abu Sayyaf guerrillas are active in
both impoverished islands.
Ulah was kidnapped in April 2000 with 20 Western tourists and Asian workers from
Malaysia's Sipadan resort, where he was a handyman. The other hostages were
ransomed off. Now under a government witness protection program, Ulah said he was
helping the government prosecute the guerrillas so they would not be able to destroy
innocent people's lives.
Copyright © 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
