Top security officials said on Thursday they were looking into the possibility of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf operating as a partisan armed group in Mindanao after theories floated that political figures were behind the bomb attacks in Basilan.
Emerging from a command conference at Camp Aguinaldo on Thursday, Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales said they were inclined to believe that the violence that erupted in Isabela City was politically motivated.
"That's what is emerging from initial investigations but we don't want to preempt it," Gonzales told reporters following the conference with military, police and the Commission on Elections officials on security preparations for the May 10 elections.
Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza added they were not "discounting the possibility" that politics had something to do with the series of blasts in Basilan, which killed 14 people.
"Politics and terrorism are enmeshed in Basilan. I will not name names but they will come out very soon," added Gonzales.
A day following the attacks, police officials in the province said the possibility of involvement of political figures in the incidents came up during the interrogation of two captured Abu Sayyaf members.
"The actors are the Abu Sayyaf, which has been established already. This group, although they are terrorists, can also be paid," Mendoza told reporters in press conference at Camp Aguinaldo.
According to the suspects, they were supposedly "hired" and were forced to wear police uniforms and instructed to carry out some attacks.
"We are seriously looking into that," Gonzales said of Abu Sayyaf group acting as a private armed group.
But Mendoza stressed that the recent violence in Basilan would not spoil the electoral process in the province.
Philippine National Police Director General Jesus Verzosa disclosed that some members of the Abu Sayyaf have been working with private armed groups in Mindanao.
He disclosed on Thursday that during the meeting of the National Security Council executive committee, which he presided earlier in the day, authorities agreed to put up some measures to ensure that the electoral process in the province would not be disrupted.
There was also no need for the Comelec to take over Basilan, said Mendoza. "The situation there is already under control. It's already manageable and can be managed by the government," he added.
0 comments:
Post a Comment