October 28, 2005: NPA rebels attacked a police station at Surigao del Sur (on the east coast of the northern island of Mindanao), but army reinforcements arrived and drove the rebels off.
October 26, 2005: In the south, seven Islamic radicals were arrested, including a convert who led a gang that kidnapped foreigners, as well as planned bombing attacks. The terrorist leader, Ahmad Santos was the founder of the "Rajah Solaiman Movement", which consisted mostly of Christians who had converted to Islam. Weapons, bomb making materials, computers and documents were also seized. The suspects were associated with Jemaah Islamiyah, and Indonesian Islamic terrorists. The Rajah Solaiman group was believed responsible for the bombing of a ferry last year, that killed over a hundred people.
October 20, 2005: The government is using a rarely enforced law to arrest and expel foreigners who get mixed up in Filipino politics. The law forbids such participation, but is now being used to eject foreigners here for things like economic and political protests, or to support Moslem separatism.
