ZAMBOANGA CITY, 17 June 2005 — An Indonesian lawmaker yesterday urged Philippine security forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to cooperate in capturing Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists who may be hiding in Mindanao.

Junus Effendi Habibie said there should be no letup in the hunt for members of the Southeast Asian terror network, blamed for the series of bombings in Jakarta and the Philippines.

“These people are the common enemies of Indonesia and the Philippines...They bomb our country and they kill innocent civilians. We are hunting them and there will be no mercy for terrorists,” Habibie said during his visit to the southern Philippine port city of Zamboanga.

Habibie led a small group of lawmakers to thank the Philippine military for the safe recovery of two Indonesian sailors — Yamin Labaso, 26, and Erikson Hutagaol, 23, — who were freed at the weekend after more than two months in captivity in Jolo island, about 950 km south of Manila.

Labaso and Hutagaol were crew members of the tugboat Bongagaya 91, which was hijacked by pirates on March 30 near the Philippine-Sabah border. Its skipper, Ahmad Resmiyadi, remains in captivity in Jolo.

Habibie left for Manila on Wednesday with the freed crewmen. Habibie said the arrest of two top Bali bombing suspects — who are reported to be hiding in Mindanao — would once again prove the close cooperation between the Philippines and Indonesia in fighting international terrorism.

He was referring to Pitono, also known as Dulmatin, and Umar Patek, who were reportedly seen in Mindanao in the company of suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels within MILF territory.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to press Manila and MILF leaders when he visits the Philippines on Monday.

The MILF has promised to help the government capture Pitono and Patek. “We are hunting down the duo,” MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said. It was not immediately known how and when the two terrorists entered the country, although Philippine military reports last year suggested that Dulmatin was killed in October an air strike in Maguindanao’s marshlands.

The strike came after spies allegedly tracked Pitono to a meeting with local terrorist Abu Sayyaf group headed by Khadaffy Janjalani. The MILF, which is currently negotiating peace with Manila, claimed the pair had forged an alliance with the local Abu Sayyaf group tied to al-Qaeda terror network.

The Jemaah Islamiya is believed to have formed links with the Abu Sayyaf up to five years ago. Abu Sayyaf rebels once claimed to have fought for an Islamic state in the southern Philippines, but won infamy around the world for the repeated kidnapping and killing of tourists and locals.

“We have received reports from our commanders on the ground that Dulmatin and Patek have allied themselves with the Abu Sayyaf and we have passed this information to the government,” Kabalu said.

Government and rebel peace negotiators have signed an accord last year for the creation of an ad-hoc joint action group that would pave the way for joint operation against terrorists hiding in the so-called MILF strongholds in the south.