MANILA, Philippines – A suspected member of the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist group was arrested following a shootout with members of the Philippine Army Scout Rangers in a province in Mindanao, a spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) reported.
The spokesman identified the suspect as Giovanni de Ocampo, who, however, denied being a member of JI and instead insisted that he was a field commander of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
But the spokesman, citing military intelligence reports, said De Ocampo was a JI trainor in the manufacture of improvised explosive devices used in killing civilians and destroying public as well as private properties in the Davao provinces of Mindanao.
De Ocampo, the spokesman said, was arrested following a shootout Sunday with a team of Army Scout Rangers in a village in the town of Pantukan in Compostela Valley province in Mindanao.
His capture has preempted another plot by terrorist groups to sow violence an wreak havoc in Mindanao, particularly in the cities of Davao, General Santos and Kidapawan, the spokesman said.
He added the Scout Rangers were responding to reports of armed men in a village in Pantukan, Comnpostela Valley when they engaged the suspected terrorists in the shootout.
The troops found a grenade launcher, several explosive devices, two-way radios and assorted bomb parts from the scene of the encounter, the spokesman said.
The spokesman also explained the release of the belated report on the arrest of De Ocampo because he had to undergo thorough tactical interrogation by police and military investigators.
The JI is believed to have sent experts to the Philippines to train local terrorists in the manufacture of bombs and other explosive devices.
Local and foreign security experts have confirmed that the JI has connections with the global terrorist network of Osama bin Laden.
Two of the JI bomb experts, identified as Indonesian nationals Dulmatin and Umar Patek, are believed to be still hiding in Mindanao where they fled after they were identified as the leaders of the terrorist attacks on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in 2002, which killed at least 200 mostly Australian tourists and wounded scores of others.
The military said the two suspected JI leaders are being coddled by Abu Sayyaf militants and members of the MILF “lost command” in Mindanao.
The military admitted that Dulmatin and Patek have proven elusive despite the offer of the US government of a tempting cash reward for their capture, dead or alive.
A $5 million reward has been offered by the US State Department for the capture of Dulmatin and another $1 million for the head of Patek.
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