Malaysia launched airstrikes and mortar attacks against nearly 200 Filipinos occupying a Borneo seaside village Tuesday to end a bizarre three-week siege that turned into a security nightmare for both Malaysia and thePhilippines.The assault follows firefights in Malaysia’s eastern Sabah state this past week that killed eight police officers and 19 Filipin…
MANILA, Philippines — Security forces have arrested three suspects from the Middle East allegedly involved in a plot to bomb the US, British and Australian embassies in Manila, officials said Thursday.Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita confirmed that two men were arrested last month in Mindanao and were being interrogated by military intelligence.A third…
MANILA, Philippines — A top Al Qaeda-linked militant accused of masterminding the kidnapping of three Americans who was long wanted by U.S. and Philippine authorities has been killed, the military said Wednesday.Jainal Antel Sali Jr., popularly known as Abu Sulaiman — a top leader of the Abu Sayyaf rebel group — was fatally shot in a fierce gunbattle T…
Cotabato City, Philippines (dpa) – Two of the most-wanted Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants are on the run in the southern Philippines and government troops have picked up their trail, a marine official said Tuesday.In a separate development, the army said it had arrested an Abu Sayyaf member involved in the kidnapping of three US citizens in 200…
Muslim militants in the Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines and their Indonesian allies have been trying to solicit money from unidentified Middle Eastern financiers to buy weapons and fund new terror attacks, according to government reports.Details of the fund-raising effort and planned attacks were obtained by Philippine security officials from Indonesi…
A terror suspect on Wednesday said the southern Philippines has become a major training ground for regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah – graduating 23 bomb experts just days ago – and a refuge for Indonesians involved in major attacks, including the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings.Rohmat, arrested last week as an alleged Jemaah Islamiyah operative in the…
Police said Thursday they thwarted planned attacks on an airport, malls, a church and U.S. troops with the arrests of three members of an al-Qaida linked terror group who allegedly came to the Philippines to train Muslim militants to make bombs.The two Indonesians and a Malaysian – all alleged Jemaah Islamiyah members – were arrested in southern Zamboanga…
The Philippines military has been involved in fresh fighting with rebels on the island of Jolo, as clashes entered a fourth day.Troops are said to have taken over a rebel hideout, but are still facing stiff resistance in some areas.”There’s still heavy fighting in the mountains of Panamao,” said Lieutenant-General Alberto Braganza.The clashes began on Mon…
Hundreds of armed followers of a jailed former Muslim rebel leader attacked government troops and occupied at least one army detachment on violent southern Jolo island on Monday, sparking clashes that killed at least 12 soldiers, officials said.The attacks by about 500 followers of Nur Misuari in Jolo’s Panamao and at least two other nearby towns were app…
(PHILLIPINES STAR) The southern Philippines has been tagged as the nerve center of regional terrorism, an Australian newspaper, quoting Australian intelligence documents, reported yesterday.The Australian said the Southeast Asian-based regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has had ties with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayy…