The government has to hunt down not only Basit Usman (shown in photo) but more than 60 other bomb experts after taking down international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan.”
MANILA, Philippines–One down. Sixty-three to go.
The government has to hunt down not only Basit Usman but more than 60 other bomb experts after taking down international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan.”
Documents obtained by the Inquirer, including one stamped with the logo of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and marked confidential and “Special Operation Group (SOG) bomb experts,” showed that Marwan had 63 associates, all trained by Indonesian bomb expert Dulmatin, who was killed by police in Jakarta in 2010.
Dulmatin was a senior figure in the Indonesia-based terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah who was one of the brains behind the bombings of two nightclubs on the resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly Australian tourists, and wounded 209 others, mostly foreign tourists, on Oct. 12, 2002.
Attack on PH envoy
He also took part in the Jemaah Islamiyah car-bomb attack on Philippine Ambassador to Indonesia Leonides Caday in Jakarta on Aug. 1, 2000.
Caday was injured in the explosion. Two people were killed and 21 others injured in the midday attack in Jakarta’s Menteng district.
Dulmatin was killed by officers from Indonesia’s counterterrorism police in a raid on his hideout on the outskirts of Jakarta on March 9, 2010.
The MILF list of SOG bomb experts is topped by Marwan, who was killed by commandos from the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police in Mamasapano town, Maguindanao province, on Jan. 25.
The list, dated June 28, 2008, is signed by one Jamir M. Bansil. It contains the names of 38 bomb makers.
A second list, dated Aug. 2, 2008, contains the names of 26 bomb experts.
Usman is third on the first list. A Filipino bomb maker for the local terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, Usman escaped from the SAF commandos, who lost 44 of their own in gun battles with guerrillas from the MILF and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
President Aquino, under heavy public criticism for the deaths of the policemen, demanded that the MILF, which signed a peace agreement with the government in March last year, to surrender Usman, if they had him, or help the government find him or step aside to allow government security forces to get him.
The United States has offered a $3-million reward for the capture of Usman.
Extortionists’ group
On the list is Abdul Jabedi Bedz, a leader of the local terrorist group Al-Khobar, which authorities say is behind a series of bombings in Central Mindanao that started two years before the list was made.
More than 30 people have been killed in those bombings.
Based in the marshlands of Maguindanao, Al-Khobar is a group of extortionists who use bombs to scare businessmen into paying up, according to authorities.
Authorities say Al-Khobar was formed in support of Jemaah Islamiyah and foreign jihadist groups.
The government is offering a P3.3-million reward for information that would lead to Bedz’s arrest.
The list shows that some of the bomb experts are also assigned as organizers, logistics and supply officers.
Some of the people on the list are described as “instructor for jihad and bombs.”
Several of the people listed as organizers are linked to Al-Khobar.
The list includes the aliases of the bomb experts, including Zulkifli’s, which is the same as the alias Marwan that appears on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s list of most wanted terrorists.
MILF informant
The Inquirer obtained the documents from a source who claimed he got the papers from an MILF informant in exchange for “some consideration.”
“These documents show that the MILF had been using the expertise of Marwan and the others as early as 10 years ago,” the source said.
The source said Dulmatin trained the 64 men on the list in bomb-making.
“They were the core group that also trained others,” the source said.
He said the training included making improvised explosive devices using locally available materials.
Marwan’s students
The military is verifying reports that Marwan trained 300 people, including female fighters, not only in bomb-making but also in using guns.
“We received information that some of the students are hiding in Mamasapano and nearby areas, and are constantly on the move. But we are still validating this,” said Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, chief of the public affairs office of Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Cabunoc asked the public to help in monitoring Marwan’s students because the military has no list of their names.
“We have seen the evil effects of bombing, especially on defenseless civilians,” Cabunoc said, adding that knowledge of bomb-making is dangerous in the hands of radical, angry civilians.
“That is very serious. If someone knows how to make a bomb, anyone can be a victim,” he said.
Cabunoc said the military had asked the MILF for help in hunting down terrorists like Usman, and that it was one way for the rebels to prove themselves serious in pursuing the peace process despite the Mamasapano incident.
“If the MILF themselves turn over the terrorist to us, then trust might be restored. They should prove that they are worth trusting and believing,” Cabunoc said.–With a report from Julie M. Aurelio
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