ZAMBOANGA CITY, 26 April 2004 — Philippine separatists yesterday demanded the release of four suspected operatives of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) group, warning that arrests could scuttle peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“If the arbitrary arrests of legitimate MILF members continue, it could affect the peace process,” MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said in a statement aired by local radio stations in Mindanao.

President Gloria Mapacagal Arroyo presented the four suspects in handcuffs to the media while visiting the southern city of Davao yesterday.

Military officials said the arrest of Sammy Abdulgani, Montaser Esmael, Datu Puti Ungka and Badrodin Dalungan effectively foiled major bomb attacks being plotted by the Indonesia-based JI group.

Arroyo said the four suspects were caught by military intelligence operatives after a brief chase near the town of Tacurong in the main southern island of Mindanao.

Arresting officers claimed to have seized various “components to make high-grade explosive bombs” from the suspects.

“I was informed that this group is directly being financed and supervised by a top Jemaah Islamiyah personality,” said Arroyo, who was in Davao campaigning for the May 10 presidential election.

“They were also involved in several foiled attempts to bomb different targets in Mindanao,” she added.

Davao, a bustling seaport, was one of at least five southern cities the suspects had targeted for bombing, Senga said.

They were also plotting attacks in Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Cotabato and Tacurong, said Lt. Gen. Roy Kyamko, who heads the military’s Southern Command.

“They’d tried to carry out some attacks but were hampered by strict security,” he said.

Kyamko alleged that the four admitted to involvement in a January gymnasium bombing that killed five people and wounded 36 others — including Mayor Vivencio Bataga — in southern town of Parang in North Cotabato province.

They also admitted to involvement in a blast that killed a soldier outside an airport in southern Awang town in February 2003, Kyamko said.

Military sources said earlier that the suspects had confessed to being associates of Indonesian Taufek Refqe, a top JI liaison officer operating in the south who was arrested in October last year.

Refqe’s arrest had led to a follow-up raid on a suspected JI hideout in Cotabato that turned up bomb-making equipment and instructions related to biological weapons, though no such weapons were found.

Arroyo said the four were nearly captured early this month when they attempted to plant bombs on two passenger ships in the south, but they had managed to escape.

Arroyo also warned terrorist groups that their “remaining days are over.”

The JI has been linked to Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda group and blamed for a string of deadly attacks in the region, including the bombings in Bali, Indonesia in 2002 that killed more than 200 people.

Security officials in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the United States and Australia have said the JI had been plotting to put up an Islamic caliphate in Southeast Asia through violent means.

Ridiculous Charge

Kabalu said the suspects were “simply” MILF members. He also maintained that the government’s insistence of linking the MILF with JI or any terrorist group was not helping promote an atmosphere of peace.

He also bewailed the practice of the military and police of arresting legitimate MILF members and quickly linking them to the JI without the benefit of an investigation.

Kabalu said the MILF will ask that a joint committee of government and rebel representatives be allowed to investigate the charges against the three as agreed under the cease-fire. If found innocent, they should be freed, he said.

“We maintain the MILF has no links with the Jemaah Islamiyah or any terrorist group. That’s why we want an investigation so everybody will know the truth,” Kabalu told The Associated Press by telephone.

The government and the MILF peace panels are to resume their negotiations next month in Malaysia, which is brokering the talks in the hope of finding a political settlement of the Mindanao conflict. (Additional input from AP, AFP & INS)