Reuters AlertNet Lite - Manila says hunts female Islamic fighters in south

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Manila says hunts female Islamic fighters in south

27 Nov 2006 09:40:55 GMT
Source: Reuters

MANILA, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Philippine troops, on the offensive for nearly four months against Islamic militants on a remote southern island, are hunting five female members of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) militant group, the head of the army said.

Lieutenant-General Romeo Tolentino said on Monday half of the 10 foreign rebels hiding out on Jolo Island were women, including the wife of Umar Patek, one of two prime suspects in the 2002 Bali suicide bombings that killed 202 people.

The other alleged mastermind of the Bali attacks, Indonesian extremist Dulmatin, is also believed to be sheltering on Jolo. Last month, his wife and two children were caught during a raid on a suspected Abu Sayyaf hideout.

Tolentino said despite arresting Istidia Oemar Sovie, his soldiers were finding it difficult to ensnare her husband, who has a $10 million bounty on his head, because of Jolo's heavily canopied, mountainous terrain and a lack of support from locals.

"It's really hard to go against the culture of the people in the area," he told reporters in Manila.

"We're not saying the residents there were not cooperating with us. They were perhaps more afraid of possible retaliation from the rebels if the residents started giving us information."

Tolentino said intelligence indicated the top leaders of the Abu Sayyaf, the Philippines' most violent Muslim rebel group, and JI militants sheltering with them were still in the interior of Jolo, about 950 km (600 miles) south of Manila.

Dulmatin's wife, who will be deported to Indonesia in 10 days, told security officials a Singaporean, a Malaysian and four Indonesians were on Jolo to train members of Abu Sayyaf in bomb-making.

Sovie was not charged with any terrorist offence or membership of JI, a group which wants to create an Islamic state across Southeast Asia.

There are family ties between villagers and rebels on Jolo and the military suspects some locals of giving the militants tip-offs about soldiers' movements.

"We're making some minor adjustments to improve our real-time intelligence because our troops always miss their targets by a few minutes," said Tolentino, who used to be a brigade commander on Jolo island in 2000.

Since August, about 6,000 Philippine troops, backed by U.S. military advisors, have been trying to flush out hundreds of Abu Sayyaf and a handful of JI members on Jolo.

The Philippines has said nearly 20 soldiers have been killed and about 90 wounded in offensives against Abu Sayyaf since Aug. 1. An estimated 50 rebels had been killed but only 13 bodies had been found.

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