Philippines: January 23, 2005

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 The army believes that Jemaah Islamiyah instructors from Indonesia, Malaysia and elsewhere, are training MILF members how to make and plant bombs. This would be for a major terror campaign in the Philippines. The camps are said to be in remote areas of the southern island of Mindanao, where the MILF has most of its support. The MILF is trying to negotiate a peace deal with the government, but also has to deal with MILF splinter groups that have become more radical, and want to wage a terror campaign against the Christian majority in the Philippines. Government corruption, and centuries old friction between Moslems and non-Moslems, are the major MILF complaints. So far, Islamic terrorism in the Philippines has been a minor part of the Moslem separatist military operations.