RP police arrest top suspect in southern Philippine bombings

Manila (Associated Press): Police have captured a leader of an al-Qaeda-linked militant group who was preparing to use truck bombs to attack the stock exchange, shopping malls and foreign embassies in Manila, the Philippines government said on Thursday.

Abdulmukim Edris, the alleged head of the Abu Sayyaf group's explosives team, has been accused in at least four bombings in southern Zamboanga city that killed 12 people and injured more than 200 others last month.

He was captured Tuesday in suburban Pasay city, Military Chief of Staff Gen. Benjamin Defensor said.

Edris reportedly told police his team was planning to use trucks loaded with containers of ammonium nitrate and activated by cellular telephone to bomb embassies belonging to the United States and other countries, several shopping malls and buildings in Manila beginning this month.

"We have information on what they are planning to do and we have given the warning to possible targets, the so-called soft targets," Defensor said.

Defensor said Edris received training from two Yemenis in making car bombs using cellular telephones and digital clocks at an Abu Sayyaf camp on southern Basilan island last year.

During his interrogation, Edris described the two Yemenis as "VIPs" or very important persons "from al-Qaeda," a police intelligence officer said on condition he not be identified.

Police said the Abu Sayyaf group sent an emissary to seek financial support for terrorist attacks in the Philippines from al-Qaeda operatives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in July 2001.

"The al-Qaeda operatives agreed to provide financial support and technical expertise to the (Abu Sayyaf group) provided it shed off its bandit image and focus on conducting attacks against the local and foreign enemies of Islam in the country," a Philippine National Police statement said.

It said three weeks before Sept. 11, 2001 two al-Qaeda operatives arrived on Basilan island and conducted a monthlong "special explosives training" session attended by Edris and several other Abu Sayyaf members.

Defensor said Edris was "implicated by his own cohorts" in at least four bombings in southern Zamboanga city last month that killed 12 people, including an American Green Beret commando, and injured more than 200 others.

The bombs exploded outside a restaurant near a military camp, at the entrance to a Catholic shrine and inside department stores in Zamboanga.

Defensor said Edris who carries a 1 million peso reward on his head (about US$18,800), also was the "mastermind" in the bombing of a food court in Zamboanga in October last year, killing six people and injuring 50 others.

He also allegedly participated in the raid on the DOS Palmas resort in May last year in which the Abu Sayyaf seized three Americans and 17 Filipinos at the start of a yearlong kidnapping spree in which more than 100 people were eventually abducted.

Edris faces murder and kidnaping charges.