Suspect in deadly Davao bombings arrested in Cotabato

A bomb expert once trained by the Jemaah Islamiyah has been arrested in Cotabato by combined forces of the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines, the military said on Friday.

Abdul Manap Mentang aka Manny/ Manap/ Al-Molk, was apprehended in Brgy. Panatan in Pagcawayan last Wednesday, AFP public affairs chief Colonel Noel Detoyato said.

Mentang is tagged in the deadly blasts in Sasa Wharf and Ecoland terminal in Davao City in 2003 which killed 23 persons and injured 127.

Military reports also said that he was included in the first batch of a 15-man group trained on basic demolition for urban terrorism by the Jemaah Islamiyah in 1995.

Also a former member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front— Special Operations Group (MILF-SOG), he was said to have trained some MILF members on bomb-making, Detoyato said.

Mentang, who is now under the custody of PNP in Davao City, was arrested in Manila in 2004 but was released from jail after three months due to lack of evidence against him.