Report outlines Philippine guerilla plots
( 2003-07-18 10:49) (Agenceis)
Muslim guerrillas considered
bombing the Philippines' presidential palace, the U.S. Embassy and oil depots
before opting for other targets three years ago, a police report said.
The extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah was determined to bomb the U.S. and
Israeli embassies but found their security too tight, according to a police
records reviewed Thursday by The Associated Press.
The record detailed the questioning of Saifullah Yunos, a former commander of
the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a group fighting for self-rule in the
southern Philippines.
Yunos, who was captured in May, pleaded guilty last week to plotting
near-simultaneous bombings that killed 22 people in Manila on Dec. 30, 2000.
Most of the casualties were on a packed commuter train.
The bombings also hit a park across the street from the U.S. Embassy, a
passenger bus, an abandoned gas station in the Makati financial district and an
airport parking lot.
Yunos told interrogators that he and others studied other targets including
the presidential palace and a nearby oil depot, the police report said.
It was not clear why the presidential palace and oil depot were dropped.
Jemaah Islamiyah reportedly wants to create a Southeast Asian Islamic state.
It has been blamed for attacks in Indonesia, including last year's Oct. 12
bombings that killed 202 people on the resort island of Bali.
|
