ZAMBOANGA CITY – Police on Saturday announced the arrest of 2 Abu Sayyaf militants in a raid on a village in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said policemen also seized from the duo one pound of TNT, detonating cord and time fuse. The militants – Abdulatip Talanghati, 64; Albashrie Talanghati – were being interrogated by the police. Both men are natives of Luuk town, an Abu Sayyaf stronghold in Sulu province in the Muslim autonomous region.
Superintendent Rogelio Alabata, a regional police spokesman, said the Friday arrest of the militants was part of the intensified anti-terror operations following intelligence reports that the Abu Sayyaf was plotting to bomb civilian targets in Zamboanga. He said Abdulatip was also tagged as among those involved in the kidnappings of 21 mostly European holidaymakers in a cross-border raid in Sabah, Malaysia in 2000.
Abdulatip has a P5.3-million bounty for his arrest.
Chief Superintendent Billy Beltran, the regional police chief, praised the arrest of the militants and commended the policemen for a job well done, and urged the public to continue supporting the police force by providing information on suspicion persons or unattended baggage in public places.
Just recently, the local police also arrested 3 suspected Abu Sayyaf bombers – Jabar Ignohassim, 24, and Asde dela Cruz, 27, both of Jolo town in Sulu province, and Abdula Yusof, 26, of Talipao town, also in Sulu. Police seized from the them 3 hand grenades, one .45-caliber pistol and four magazines loaded with bullets; and 3 rolls of time fuse, two blasting caps and at least a dozen cell phone batteries and two motorcycle.
Police said the suspects were believed to be followers of Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Alhabsy Misaya, whose group was tagged as behind the spate of terrorism in Sulu province and ransom kidnappings in Sabah.
The arrest of the trio coincided with celebration of the month-long Hermosa Festival in honor of the Virgin Mary. Mayor Beng Climaco has appealed to all hotel owners here to ensure an efficient and effective profiling of guests to help authorities in its anti-crime and anti-terrorism efforts. Climaco said the profiling of hotel guests should be done all year round. Two pension houses were previously bombed in Zamboanga City.
In October 2011, at least 11 people were killed in a bomb explosion that ripped through a room inside the Red Palm Pension House and at a cockfighting arena during the Hermosa Festival.
And the following month, a powerful explosion also destroyed the second floor of the two-storey Atilano Pension House that killed at least 3 people and injured more than two dozen people. Police said they traced evidence of TNT from one of the rooms of the pension house, but no group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack. (Mindanao Examiner)
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