ZAMBOANGA CITY, 5 August 2006 — Security forces in the southern Philippines arrested a Muslim preacher yesterday on suspicion that he was a member of the Abu Sayyaf extremist group, prompting a swift protest from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Police officials said soldiers nabbed Ustadz Hussein Abidin on Thursday at a bus depot in Cotabato City on his arrival from the province of North Cotabato.

“He is being interrogated and military intelligence reports had linked him to the Abu Sayyaf. The preacher is allegedly a bomb maker, but we have to prove that report,” said Senior Inspector Samson Obatay, a spokesman for the local police force.

The MILF, which is currently negotiating peace with the government, said the military got the wrong man. “Ustadz Abedin is not a terrorist. He is a member of the MILF and active in peace dialogues in Mindanao,” said Eid Kabalu, spokesman of the MILF.

Kabalu also disowned the 16 armed men who surrendered to the military in Zamboanga del Norte yesterday.

According to the military’s Southern Command, the 16 rebels surrendered voluntarily and were undergoing debriefing.

“They say they wanted to live in peace with their families,” Marine Lt. Col. Abid Bajunaid told Arab News.

Kabalu said the armed men were definitely not their members. “We have no reports from our leaders in Zamboanga del Norte about the surrender of their soldiers. There is no reason to surrender,” he said.

The MILF is the country’s largest Muslim rebel group fighting for a separate Islamic state in the restive region of Mindanao.

Fighting in Jolo

In the island of Jolo, south of Zamboanga City, two soldiers were wounded in sporadic clashes with Abu Sayyaf guerrillas as troops mounted an offensive for the four day yesterday.

Officials said a still undetermined number of militants were either killed or wounded, but there were no signs that any of the top Abu Sayyaf leaders were slain. Troops were also tracking down two Jemaah Islamiyah bombers Umar Patek and Dulmatin reportedly hiding on the island, about 950 kms south of Manila.

Bajunaid said the latest casualties bring to 7 the number of soldiers wounded in the fighting since Tuesday. The military said at least 3 militants were also killed and two more wounded in the fighting when security forces attacked terrorist hideouts in at least four hinterland villages in the town of Indanan.

Soldiers were also tracking down Khadaffy Janjalani, the chieftain of the Abu Sayyaf group, but there were no fresh reports about his location or any of the two JI bombers.

One of those allegedly killed was Ismin Sahiron, son of Radullan Sahiron, a one-armed, horse-riding Abu Sayyaf commander.

The younger Sahiron was believed killed in the four-day-old offensive in the jungles of Jolo island, said Col. Mohammad Nur Askalani, acting chief of staff of the SouthCommand.

The offensive targeted the top leaders of the Abu Sayyaf, an Al-Qaeda-linked group notorious for kidnappings, beheadings and bomb attacks, and two Indonesians from the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah who are wanted for their alleged roles in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. Dulmatin, who goes by one name, and Umar Patek, have been seen on Jolo recently with Abu Sayyaf leaders and about 200 guerrillas, prompting the military to launch ground and air assaults.