The Times of India -- Two soldiers and six members of an Islamic militant group holding an Italian Red Cross hostage were killed in heavy fighting in the southern Philippines on Thursday, the military said.
There was no immediate confirmation on the physical state of Eugenio Vagni, the 62-year-old Italian who was abducted by the Abu Sayyaf along with two other aid workers -- who have since been released unharmed -- nearly five months ago.
A marine combat patrol came upon about 150 heavily armed Abu Sayyaf members near the town of Indanan on southern Jolo island at dawn, the military said.
"A fierce firefight ensued and is still ongoing," Navy spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Arevalo said.
Two soldiers and six militants were killed, and four soldiers were wounded, he said.
He said the Abu Sayyaf unit was led by Albader Parad and Abu Pula, two senior commanders of the group thought to be holding Vagni.
The Swiss and Philippine colleagues of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staffer were released separately in April.
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno last week said Vagni was alive, but said that weeks in the harsh tropical jungle was taking its toll on the captive, who was known to be suffering from a hernia.
Puno had said that efforts to recover Vagni were being slowed by landmines planted by the Abu Sayyaf.
Foreign militants believed to be from the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional extremist network were aiding the Abu Sayyaf kidnappers, making it more difficult for negotiators to resolve the crisis peacefully, Puno had said.
Arevalo on Thursday said reports from the field indicated Indonesian JI member Umar Patek was helping the Abu Sayyaf.
Patek and compatriot Dulmatin are wanted for the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia that killed more than 200 people, many of them tourists.
The Philippine military had reported that Dulmatin was killed in the southern Philippines last year, but Indonesian authorities later said forensic tests were inconclusive.
The US government has offered a million dollars for the capture of Patek, and 10 million dollars for Dulmatin.
The Abu Sayyaf is a small group of Islamic rebels blamed for the worst militant attacks in the Philippines.
It once received funding from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network when it was first organised by young Afghan-trained firebrand Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, according to local and international intelligence and security groups.
His death in a clash with police in 1998 led to a power vacuum within the Abu Sayyaf, which has since specialised in kidnappings and bombings.
Showing posts with label War on Terrorism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label War on Terrorism. Show all posts
Thursday, 11 June 2009
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Miscarriage of Justice: Who was behind the October 2002 Bali bombings?
by Michel Chossudovsky Global Research, November 13, 2008
Three Islamic militants were executed on November 9th for their alleged role in the 2002 Bali bombings that resulted in the death of 202 people. The official version of events was that the bombings were sponsored by Al Qaeda and carried out by members of an affiliate Islamic organization Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
Most of those killed in the bomb attacks were Western, mainly Australian tourists.
Evidence Withheld
There are indications that the trial procedures were manipulated and that evidence was withheld. Both the Western and the Indonesian media have been involved in a coverup.
Known and documented, Al Qaeda has been supported by both Pakistani and US intelligence. JI has received covert support and training from Pakistan's ISI. Jemaah Islamiah also has links to Indonesia’s military intelligence, which in turn has links to the CIA and Australian intelligence.
"Media accounts describing Jemaah Islamiyah as the outcome of some inexplicable Machiavellian plot are simply absurd. Without the CIA’s dirty operations in Afghanistan, neither Jemaah Islamiyah nor Al Qaeda would have come into existence. The anti-Soviet war provided the money and the training, as well as forging the loose international network of contacts that was to characterise the future modus operandi of these organisations. It also provided participants with powerful new credentials. Upon their return to South East Asia, Washington’s “freedom fighters” were treated as heroes within Islamic circles. In Indonesia, they even formed their own veteran organisation—Group 272—the figure being the number of former fighters." (Peter Symonds, The Political Origins of Jemaah Islamiyah Behind the Bali Bombings, Global Research, November 2003)
Involvment of Indonesian intelligence and the CIA?
A contradictory November 2002 report emanating from Indonesia’s top brass, pointed to the involvement of both the head of Indonesian intelligence General A. M. Hendropriyono as well as the CIA:
"The agency and its director, Gen. A. M. Hendropriyono, are well regarded by the United States and other governments. But there are still senior intelligence officers here who believe that the C.I.A. was behind the bombing."(Raymond Bonner and Jane Perlez, More Attacks on Westerners Are Expected in Indonesia, New York Times, 25 November 2002)
The links between JI and Indonesia’s Intelligence Agency (BIN) are tacitly acknowledged by US nased think tank, the International Crisis Group (ICG): "This link [of JI to the BIN] needs to be explored more fully: it does not necessarily mean that military intelligence was working with JI, but it does raise a question about the extent to which it knew or could have found out more about JI than it has acknowledged." (International Crisis Group, http://www.crisisweb.org/, 2003)
Former President Megawati Sukarnoputr accused the US
In response to these allegations, the Bush Administration demanded that President Megawati Sukarnoputri, publicly refute the involvement of the U.S in the attacks. No official retraction was issued. Not only did President. Megawati remain silent on the matter, she also accused the US of being:
"a superpower that forced the rest of the world to go along with it… We see how ambition to conquer other nations has led to a situation where there is no more peace unless the whole world is complying with the will of the one with the power and strength." (Ibid)
Cover-up
The links of JI to the Indonesian intelligence agency were never raised in the official Indonesian government investigation --which was guided behind the scenes by Australian intelligence and the CIA.
Moreover, shortly after the bombing, Australian Prime Minister John Howard "admitted that Australian authorities were warned about possible attacks in Bali but chose not to issue a warning." (Christchurch Press, 22 November 2002. Similar warnings were made by the CIA).
Also, in the wake of the bombings, the Australian government chose to work with Indonesia’s Special Forces the Kopassus, in the so-called "war on terrorism".
Former President Abdurrahman Wahid: Involvement of the Police and the Armed Forces
The statements of two former presidents were casually dismissed in the trial procedures, both of which pointed to complicity of the Indoensian military and police.
In 2002, president Megawati Sukarnoputri, accused the US of involvement in the attacks. In 2005, in an October 2005 interview with Australia's SBS TV, former president Wahid Abdurrahman stated that the Indonesian military and police played a complicit role in the 2002 Bali bombing.
(The transcript of the SBS TV Program containing the interview with President Wahid was posted on the Global Research website shortly before SBS TV withdrew the transcript from its own archives).
ABDURRAHMAN WAHID ... The orders to do this or that came from within our armed forces, not from the fundamentalist people,"
REPORTER: But that bomb [second bomb attack] has been blamed also on Jemaah Islamiah.
ABDURRAHMAN WAHID: Yeah, I know but you don't have any kind of proof. The proof is that the bomb is similar to that belong to the police. It's a problem for us then. Every bomb there until now it belongs to the government.
ABDURRAHMAN WAHID: Amrozi was involved in the lighter bomb. That's a problem always. Even though I agree that he should be given a stiff punishment, but it doesn't mean that he is involved. No, no, no.
REPORTER: So you believe that the Bali bombers had no idea that there was a second bomb?
ABDURRAHMAN WAHID: Yeah, precisely.
REPORTER: And who would you suggest planted the second bomb?
ABDURRAHMAN WAHID: Well, it looks like the police.
REPORTER: The police?
ABDURRAHMAN WAHID: Or the armed forces, I don't know.
Australia: "Useful Wave of Indignation"
The 2002 Bali bomb attacks contributed to swaying Australian public opinion in favor of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, while also weakening the anti-war protest movement. In the wake of the 2002 Bali attack, the Australian government "officially" joined the US-led "war on terrorism." It not only used the Bali bombings as a pretext to fully integrate the US-UK military axis, it also used the attacks as a pretext to implement drastic police measures including "ethnic profiling" directed against its own citizens:
Prime Minister John Howard made the extraordinary declaration recently that he is prepared to make pre-emptive military strikes against terrorists in neighbouring Asian countries planning to attack Australia. Australian intelligence agencies also are very worried about the likelihood of an al-Qaeda attack using nuclear weapons. (Insight on the News, 3 February 2003).
According to Peter Symonds in his 2003 review article on JI, the role of the Indonesian military remains unanswered.
"It is simply not plausible that Indonesia’s vast security and intelligence apparatus knew nothing about the large logistical operation involved in the Bali bombings. Yet no investigation has been carried out into precisely what information military officials had prior to the attack. Any leads casting suspicion on the TNI [Indonesian Military]—including the detention of a military officer—have been quickly dropped." (Symonds, op cit)
Portions of this article were based on my earlier research and writings on the Bali bombings.
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