Philippines: Terrorists Seen, But Not Felt

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October 12, 2005: Security forces have been sent out to find four Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) bomb makers. None are Filipinos, three three are Indonesians and one from Singapore. All are believed hiding out in the southern Philippines. The government also believes some of these JI bombers are in the capital, along with at least two terrorist cells, and has police and the public on alert to help find them.

Soldiers captured an NPA leader and killed two of his subordinates.

October 10, 2005: In the south, NPA rebels ambushed and killed four civilians and five unarmed soldiers.

October 9, 2005: Australian and British commandoes are reported helping in the search for JI terrorists in the south. Australia signed a counter-terror cooperation deal two years ago, and has contributed $5 million to the Philippines since then for the effort.

October 5, 2005: The recent attempts to impeach president Arroyo had some backlash in the army. It was believed that some units, and commanders, might try to stage a coup, and as a result, there have been a lot of transfers, and even some units have been broken up.