A suspected terrorist, planning to carry out bomb attacks in key Philippine cities, has been arrested in the southern city of Cotabato, the police said on Friday.
Guiamalodin Edsrafil, 24, was arrested by the police on Tuesday, the country's police chief Jesus Verzosa told reporters.
Edsfaril had admitted that the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group (ASG) jointly planned to bomb several targets in major cities across the country, according to the director general of the Philippine National Police.
"I am happy to announce that government security forces have foiled an elaborate plan by separatist and extremist groups to sow terror in some key cities in the country, including Metro Manila," Verzosa said.
The police had seized bomb materials from Edsrafil's hiding place, including three electric blasting caps, 6 inches of detonating cord, and two Christmas light bulbs to be used as an "igniter," the Philippine Daily Inquirer said in an online report.
Edsfaril is a suspect in at least six bombing attacks in the southern region of Mindanao since 2005, said the police.
"The arrest of Edsrafil revealed a network and command structure with direct links to key personalities in the MILF and the ASG, from whom bombing orders emanated," Verzosa said.
The MILF, the largest rebel group in the Southeast Asian country with 12,000 members, has been fighting for a separate Islamic state for decades since 1978. The group has repeatedly denied that its troops are in collusion with Abu Sayyaf bandits.
The 370-member Abu Sayyaf group, listed by the United States as a terror organization, was a major security threat in the Philippines for a string of bloody attacks it carried out in public, including the 2004 Manila Bay blast that killed more than 100 civilians.
Source:Xinhua
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