ZAMBOANGA CITY, 9 September 2003 — After saying troops may have killed escaped Indonesian terror-bomber Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi in a clash, the military admitted yesterday that the assumption was wrong.
Radio reports earlier quoted military officials as saying Al-Ghozi was killed shortly before 8 p.m. after security forces clashed with suspected Moro rebels in Ungap village in Sultan Kudarat town, a traditional stronghold of the separatist rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which the military said is coddling the foreigner, also linked to the Al-Qaeda terror network.
Jemaah Islamiya bomb-maker The Philippine military yesterday denied reports that soldiers have killed escaped Indonesian Jemaah Islamiya bomb-maker Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi in a clash in the southern province of Maguindanao.
Radio reports said troops killed Al-Ghozi shortly before 8 p.m. Sunday during a firefight with suspected Abu Sayyaf rebels in Ungap village of Sultan Kudarat town, a traditional stronghold of the separatist rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Lt. Col. Renoir Pascua, spokesman of the military’s Southern Command, said the initial claim was made because one slain rebel whose body resembled Al-Ghozi, a self-confessed bomb-maker of the Al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist network.
He said identifying the slain man through his face, however, was impossible because it was bloated and partially blown off.
Pascua said it was only by comparing fingerprints of the dead suspect with Al-Ghozi’s fingerprint records provided by the Philippine National Police that they were able to ascertain it was not the escaped terrorist.
Troops have been pursuing Al-Ghozi in the southern Philippines where he is reported to be hiding after escaping along with two Abu Sayyaf rebels, Abdulmukim Edris and Omar Opik Lasal, from a police prison facility in Camp Crame in Manila on July 14.
Edris was recaptured together with a suspected MILF leader at a checkpoint in Lanao del Norte province, but both of them were killed by soldiers after they allegedly tried to grab the weapons of their escorts while on their way to Al-Ghozi’s hideout in the hinterlands.
The military said Al-Ghozi is being protected by an MILF leader Salip Aloy Alsree in Lanao del Norte, but this was strongly denied by the rebel group, which is currently holding peace talks with the Arroyo government.
Western intelligence linked the MILF to Osama Bin Laden and captured JI members in Indonesia admitted they trained in explosives inside MILF camps in central Mindanao.
In Cotabato City, a homemade bomb explosion late yesterday ripped through a crowded market, killing one person and wounding 7 others, police and military said.
The bomb, believed to be a hand grenade hidden inside a plastic bag, was left on the busy street where a passer-by accidentally kicked it, setting it off, Chief Superintendent Peraco Macacua said.
Most of the victims were sidewalk vendors who regularly ply their trade in the area, he added.
There were no immediate suspects in the incident.
The MILF, which has been blamed for previous bomb blasts in the southern Philippines, has denied any involvement in the latest explosion.
“The MILF do not attack civilians,” said rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu.
