Philippines/Political unrest: 197 people charged with murder over Maguindanao massacre

Philippines Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that a former close ally of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo and 196 other people have been charged against the massacre in Maguindanao on November 23 that killed 57 people.

Among those who charged in the mass killing is Andal Ampatuan, the head of the powerful Ampatuan family, which controlled local politics and ran a private army in the province. "All the conspirators are answerable as co-principals regardless of the extent or degree of their participation," prosecutors stated in a report submitted to a court in Manila.

On November last year, 57 people including 30 journalists were killed after they were stopped at a checkpoint in Maguindanao province. The authorities have since launched a crackdown in the region and imposed martial law in Maguindanao. According to Philippine police, Andal Ampatuan Jnr, a local mayor, led the killings to stop a rival politician from registering as a candidate for provincial governor in next year's elections.

Meanwhile, election campaign has kicked off in the Philippines for the first presidential elections in six years. Nearly 50 million voters are expected to go to the polls to elect a new president and vice-president in May 10. But the start of the official 90-day campaign period has already been marked by political violence with at least a dozen people gunned down so far.

Pakistan/Philippines/Terrorism: U.S. missile killed Abu Sayyaf terrorist in Waziristan

Unnamed “intelligence sources” reported on Thursday that Filipino terrorist Abdul Basit Usman had been killed in a U.S. drone attack in North Waziristan Tribal Agency on Thursday January 14, 2009. Pakistani press said he was present in the house of tribal leader Yaqub Khan, in Shaktoi village, along with 10 others pro-Taleban terrorists. It is believed that Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP)’s leader Hakimullah Mehsud was also in the house a few minutes before the missile strike.

Abdul Basit Usman was considered as one of the most dangerous terrorists operating in South East Asia. He had been charged for several bombings carried by the Abu Sayyaf group. He was also the main link between local groups and Al-Qaeda’s central command in Pakistan’s tribal belt. The U.S. Department of State had offered up to $1 million for any information that could lead to his capture. It must be noticed that No official sources have confirmed his death so far.

United States/Malaysia/Security: tourists warned of Borneo terror attacks

Security has been beefed up following a warded notice issued by the United States Embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Friday which warned that terrorists could carry out attacks on foreigners in the eastern Malaysian state on Borneo, notably on the island state of Sabah.

"There are indications that both criminal and terrorist groups are planning acts of violence against foreigners in eastern Sabah, notwithstanding the government of Malaysia's increased ability to detect, deter and prevent such attacks," the warned notice posted on the embassy's website, said.

The notice pointed out areas of eastern Sabah including Semporna and the islands of Mabul and Sipadan, as well as travel to and from the area are to be avoided.

The warden notice said the Philippines-based, Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militant group had kidnapped foreigners in eastern Sabah in the past. Criminal elements were also responsible for kidnapping and piracy, adding that foreigners have been kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf in eastern Sabah in the past.

Malaysia's deputy police chief, Ismail Omar, said his officers were taking all necessary steps to ensure the safety of the civilians. "I have directed the state police chief to intensify patrols along the coast and islands around Sabah especially Semporna, Mabul and Sipadan. "We will continue to closely monitor the situation and take appropriate action, thus the people and tourists are asked to be calm and not to be worried because we are always on alert," he told reporters.

Philippines/Insurgency: troops killed 7 NPA rebels in clash north of Manila

The Philippine army announced on Thursday that seven rebels of the New People's Army (NPA) were killed in an armed encounter with an infantry unit near the town of Dona Remedios Trinidad, 50 kilometres north of Manila. "Troops ran into a band of 30 guerrillas of the New People's Army guerrillas in Bulacan province, triggering an hourlong battle that left seven dead, one of the highest fatalities among the rebels in recent weeks", Lt. Col. Arnulfo Burgos told reporters.

He further said that the bodies of the seven rebels have been recovered by the troops, adding there there were no casualties among soldiers. "One of the dead was a girl who appeared to be under 18 years old", Burgos said. The rebels were forced to retreat, leaving behind their fallen comrades and several weapons.

Last month, the Philippine military declared that that it had dismantled the territory of long-running Maoist insurgent operations, leaving four central islands free of guerrillas for the first time in decades. This coincides with the government's efforts to combat the NPA. In this regard, Chief of Staff Victor Ibrado declared last month that the government hopes to eradicate the NPA prior to the May 2010 elections.

Philippines/Insurgency: Five killed in clashes in Maguindanao

On Friday, army officials announced that clashes erupted between rogue Muslim rebels and an armed group believed to be involved in the massacre of 57 people in the southern Philippines in November last year. It has been reported that five people have been killed and several others wounded in Thursday night's four-hour clash between the rebels and remnants of an armed civilian militia under the control of the powerful Ampatuan clan, suspects in the Nov. 23 massacre of 57 people.

Speaking to reporters, Major-General Anthony Alcantara, army commander in the area said troops have been deployed in the  Maguindanao province to prevent any further conflict. "We're working closely with the ceasefire panel of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to end violence in the area," Alcantara told reporters. "We cannot allow anarchy and lawlessness to reign in this part of the country," he added.

Unknown gunmen on a motorcycle shot and wounded a Filipino radio reporter, working for a local radio station in Vigan City in Ilocos Sur province in Philippines on Friday, officials said on Friday. "Eugene Paet was on his way home after work at a radio station owned by a powerful political clan in Ilocos Sur province when the gunmen opened fire at him on Thursday night," Eduardo Dupale, provincial police chief, said. Paet was hit in the body but was able to flee from the assailants, Dopale said. "We're now trying to establish the motive for the attack. It's too premature to conclude it was work-related because there could be other reasons for the attempt to kill him," the police officer added. Thursday's shooting was the first attack on a journalist in the Philippines in 2010.

Philippines/Security: Philippine massacre suspect pleads not guilty

Andal Ampatuan Jnr, the prime suspect of the November massacre of 57 people, including 30 journalists, in the volatile southern Philippines, has pleaded not guilty when he appeared in a special police court on Tuesday.

Amptuan Jnr's lawyer Sigfrid Fortun told the court that Amptuan is "Not guilty.” However, prosecutors say Mr Ampatuan led a group of some 100 armed men who stopped the convoy in which the victims were travelling, then executed and buried them in mass graves. The judge adjourned the trial until next week to allow for a dozen witnesses to be called to support a bail application. Reportedly, state prosecutors are preparing 16 more murder cases against Mr Ampatuan Jr. in order to cover each of the 57 victims.

Days after the massacre, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared a state of emergency in the province of Maguindanao, where the killings took place, as well as in Sultan Kudarat province and Cotabato City. She vowed justice for the victims.

Philippines/insurgency: terrorists kill 2 Filipino navy commandos in clash

Philippine officials announced on Wednesday that navy commandos launched an attack on a coastal stronghold of Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group in the southern Philippines. An exchange of fire with Abu Sayyaf gunmen left two navy men dead. “Some of the navy men were still disembarking from speed boats when the militants discovered the nighttime raid in Muhammad Ajijul township on Basilan island Tuesday. The ensuing gunbattle killed two navy personnel and wounded another,” regional military commander Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino said.

Dolorfino said several Abu Sayyaf gunmen were believed to have been wounded or killed. “The militants fled into a forest and were being pursued by troops,” he said “Some of our men were still on their boats when the firing began. The operation was compromised,” Dolorfino told reporters.

Reportedly, the commando attack was part of a massive military campaign to capture several Abu Sayyaf terrorists and members of the larger rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). “The attack on the Abu Sayyaf lair was also aimed at pressuring the militants into freeing two Chinese men who were kidnapped recently from a plywood factory in Basilan,” Rear Admiral Alex Pama, a regional navy commander, said. He said the military learned that the rebels led by commander, Furuji Indama, had planned to meet with Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas in the coastal hinterlands near Muhammad Ajijul in Basilan, a predominantly Muslim island about 880 kilometers south of Manila, and planned an attack, Pama said. “We were unlucky,” he said.

Philippines/Terrorism: bomb hits congressman house in Maguindanao

A Philippine military official announced on Monday that unknown men detonated a homemade bomb outside the house of a state official on Sunday night in southern Philippines. There were no reported casualties. “The explosion around 6:00 p.m. (local time) left a three-foot hole at the fence of the house of Didagen Dilangalen, a congressman for the Province of Maguindanao, in the village of Rosary Heights 3,” said local army spokesman Col. Jonathan Ponce. He said there were no casualties in the blast.

Speaking to a local radio channel on Monday Dilangalen admitted the blast came almost a month after he was informed about a supposed attempt on his life. “It was a miracle no one was inside the house at the time. The debris entered even the comfort room of the house, and shattered windows at nearby houses. If I were there, I tell you, my sport-utility vehicle would have been wrecked," he said in an interview on dwIZ radio.

Dilangalen said there is no security at his house when he and his mother are not around. “If there were people inside the house at the time, many would have been killed. That was how powerful the explosion was," he said. No one group claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

Philippines/Security: Manila declares holiday truce with Maoist rebels

Press Secretary Cerge M. Remonde said in a statement on Wednesday that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has approved a ceasefire with rebel groups, which was reciprocated by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). "President Arroyo has approved the suspension of offensive military operations (SOMO) for the Christmas season as recommended by the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines). This is in keeping with the Christmas spirit of peace and goodwill," Remonde said in a statement.

A senior Philippine government official said that government forces will unilaterally suspend army offensives against Maoist-led rebels for 60-hours over Christmas, but will maintain defenses. "We're calling on them (rebels) not to take advantage of the situation and spoil the Filipinos' Christmas holidays," Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters. “Manila will also observe a 24 hour ceasefire New Year,” Ermita told reporters.

Reportedly, the ceasefire will cover only the 4,000-member communist New People's Army (NPA), which has been waging a protracted guerrilla war since the late 1960s. he ceasefire "will also allow the revolutionary forces and the masses... to gather peacefully... or the celebration of the 41st anniversary of the CPP (on Dec. 26),” said Ermita.

Philippines/Security: Manila says arrests terrorists at airport

Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) spokesman Ricardo Diaz announced that law enforcement agents arrested on Wednesday Abdul Basir Latip, a terrorist member of the Abu Sayyaf group, an Islamic organisation linked to Al-Qaeda. "He was arrested on the request of the U.S. embassy here," Ricardo Diaz, head of the NBI's counter terrorism unit, told reporters, showing a letter from the U.S. embassy's legal attache seeking help for Latip's arrest.

Reportedly, government agents nabbed Latip, suspected to be among the organisers of the terrorist organisation, after he arrived at the Manila International Airport from Jakarta. He was later transferred to the National Bureau NBI office. "The US State Department has also offered $1.5 million bounty for his capture," Diaz said, adding the arrest team was armed with a warrant issued by Interpol.

Diaz said Latip was indicted by a Washington court in 2007 for his role in the kidnapping of Charles Walton, a Protestant missionary working as a linguist on the remote southern Philippine island of Jolo in 1993. "I am not an Abu Sayyaf member," Latip said, protesting against his arrest after he was paraded to reporters at the NBI office. He later admitted being friends with Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, a head of Abu Sayyaf group, and for using an alias in his passport.

Philippines/Insurgency: hostage crisis ends, victims freed

Santiago Cane, a vice governor of Agusan del Sur province announced on Sunday that a group of tribal armed men has agreed to free more than 40 civilians they detained at a hilly hide-out in the southern Philippines, ending the 4-day hostage crisis peacefully. "At last the crisis is over," Cane told reporters. "The guns, bullets and grenades of these men are with me now."

Cane said the government crisis management committee on Sunday signed an agreement with Joebert "Ondo" Perez, the leader of the 19 armed tribam, to release the hostages. He said as agreed the government would not file charges against the group and will transfer previous murder cases against Perez to a tribal council for review.

On Thursday tribal gunmen abducted 71 people in Agusan del Sur province as they fled police pursuing them after a gunbattle with their rivals, but had freed 29 over the next two days. Authorities have identified the gunmen as members of the Manobo tribe, and said they were wanted on charges of murder and other crimes. The hostage crisis in the lawless Mindanao region came just three weeks after 57 people were massacred in nearby Maguindanao province in an attack bound to raise tensions ahead of a presidential election next year.

Philippines/Insurgency: tribal gunmen free 9 of 57 hostages

A Philippine government official announced that armed mountain tribesmen freed nine more hostages they abducted in the remote southern Philippines. Their leader also demanded on Friday the government to dropp murder charges against them before they release the 48 other captives. "They allowed these nine people to go home with me as a sign of goodwill," Josefina Bajade, head of the government negotiating group told a news agency by phone from a mountain trail near Prosperidad town in Agusan del Sur province. "I am confident we can get them all back to their families in a few days. What's more important is that we're talking and we're trying to resolve the problem peacefully."

On Thursday armed mountain tribesmen abducted about 75 people, most of them schoolchildren, after a raid on a remote elementary school in lawless Mindanao. However, hours after the kidnappings, Bajade, a government negotiator persuaded the gunmen to free 17 schoolchildren and an elderly woman among more than 75 people they initially seized.

Meanwhile, leader of the tribal gunmen Ondo Perez warned that they would massacre hostages if police made a rescue bid. “I will kill the hostages if police attempt to rescue them,” Perez told a reporter who accompanied a government negotiator to the remote site. Authorities identified the gunmen as members of the Manobo clan, and said they were wanted on charges of murder and other crimes. Perez also demanded that authorities disarm a rival clan engaged in a bitter land feud with the Manobos.

Philippines/Insurgency: gunmen abduct 75, mostly children, in Agusan del Sur

A senior Philippine army general announced that armed mountain tribesmen abducted about 75 people, most of them schoolchildren, after a raid on a remote elementary school in the southern Philippines on Thursday. “On Thursday, a group of teachers and students was preparing for the start of their classes in Prosperidad town when armed Manobo tribesmen took them away to a forested area in Agusan del Sur province,” Lieutenant-General Raymundo Ferrer said.

According to police the abductors later released 18 of them, including 17 children. "We've sent troops to help rescue the hostages," Ferrer told reporters, describing the armed men as a group of "bandits" blamed for several robberies and killings in the area. "We are not aware of any political demands but negotiations are now ongoing to free the hostages that include two forest rangers and some of the parents who were in the school at that time. We're only playing a support role there.”

Last month 57 people including 30 journalists were killed after they were stopped at a checkpoint in Maguindanao province, also in the south. The authorities have since launched a crackdown in the region and imposed martial law in Maguindanao.

Philippines/Insurgency: Philippine clan killed at least 200 others

The Human Rights Commissioner of Philippines announced on Wednesday that a Muslim clan accused of a political massacre last month killed at least 200 other people during its rule of a southern Philippine province. “We are looking at a minimum of 200,” the commission's chairwoman Leila de Lima told reporters. She added that the bodies were believed to be buried in mass graves scattered across Maguindanao province. “These are victims of the same clan and the private armies.”

The Commissioner said there were witnesses to the massacre who were only now feeling confident to speak out against the Ampatuan clan because its leaders had been arrested over the November 23 massacre of 57 people. “Given the right opportunity there will be witnesses who can exactly pinpoint these mass graves,” de Lima said. “Five police officers who had direct knowledge of some of the murders were among those now willing to speak out against the Ampatuans,” she said.

Philippines National Police Director General Jesus Verzosa also said on Wednesday that at least 161 people are suspected of having directly participated in the massacre. "We have so far identified 161 suspects who directly participated in the gruesome massacre," Verzosa told a nationally televised news briefing. Other police chiefs said police and army officers were among those who carried out the killings of 57 people on November 23 in Maguindanao province. According to them Andal Ampatuan Jnr, a local mayor, led the killings to stop a rival politician from registering as a candidate for provincial governor in next year's elections.

Philippines/Security: rebels resume peace talks in Kwlalampur

Peace talks between the Philippine government and Muslim separatist rebels resumed Tuesday in Malaysia, after more than a year of suspension, a government statement said. Rafael Seguis, the government's top negotiator, said in an opening statement to two-day talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the Malaysian capital Kwlalampur that the process was "now formally back on track." "I believe -- and I am sure that we all share this optimism -- that we will be able to forge a peace settlement that is just, lasting, acceptable, and truly beneficial to the Muslim Filipinos in Mindanao, and to the entire Filipino people," he said. "We have a reason to celebrate the milestone we are about to build today. But the task ahead of us is still great. The challenges we have to surmount remain high. There is a lot of work to do.”

Seguis also thanked the Malaysian government for its continuous support for the peace process. Mohagher Iqbal, chairman of MILF negotiating team, reiterated the rebel group's commitment to finding a political solution to the Mindanao conflict. “There is no other way except the path of peace,” he said. Peace talks between the government and MILF were halted in August last year when guerrillas seized villages and attacked towns in protest against the non-signing of a key territory agreement.

The start of the two-day talks in Kwlalampur was also attended by representatives of an international contact group (ICG) organized to monitor the negotiations and implementation of agreements reached. The ICG is composed of Japan, Britain, Turkey and several international peace and humanitarian organizations.

Philippines/Security: troops raid clan compound in Maguindanao

Security forces in the Philippines on Friday raided the homes of the family suspected of last week’s massacre of 57 civilians and recovered a buried arsenal of heavy weaponry. “Army troops and police, armed with a warrant, stormed four mansions belonging to the Ampatuans on Friday and found firearms and ammunition,” local military spokesman Major Randolph Cabangbang said.

Police said they found machine guns, anti-tank rockets, dozens of automatic assault rifles and hundreds of boxes of ammunition from a patch of ground close to the family compound of the Ampatuan family. “For several days, hundreds of security forces have surrounded the sprawling compounds in impoverished southern Maguindanao province to prevent the clan from escaping. They dug out an entire arsenal including mortar shells, light machine guns, assault rifles and bazookas buried near the patriarch's mansion,” armed forces spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner added.

National police Chief Jesus Verzosa said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered an investigation of police and soldiers who may have supplied the weapons and ammunition. “We've started an internal inquiry to determine if these weapons and ammunition were issued by the Government and if these were sold by some soldiers,” a military spokesman said. Andal Ampatuan Jnr, a member of the family is currently in police custody and has been charged with multiple counts of murder related to the mass killing last week. Among the 57 victims were members of a rival clan and 30 journalists.

Philippines/Insurgency: suspect in Philippine massacre charged with murder

Philippine prosecutors on Tuesday charged the heir of a powerful clan with murder in the election-related massacre of 57 people, including journalists and the family and supporters of an election candidate in Maguindanao province last week. “The charges against Andal Ampatuan Jnr were filed in a court, in the southern city of Cotabato, which has jurisdiction over the site of the November 23 massacre,” said prosecutor Edilberto Jamora.

Prosecutor Al Calica told reporters that at least 10 witnesses will testify they saw Ampatuan Jr. leading the gunmen, including police officers, who blocked his rival's election caravan moments before the Nov. 23 massacre. "The evidence is strong," Calica said, adding that at least 10 witnesses provided written testimonies linking Ampatuan to the killings. He said three of them were in the convoy carrying journalists and the wife, two sisters, an aunt and several supporters of Ampatuan's rival, Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu of Maguindanao's Buluan township.

Prosecutors said the killings were carefully planned and that more charges will follow. At least one witness alleged that the Ampatuan clan had gathered in the patriarch's mansion in the provincial capital of Shariff Aguak days before to plan the killings, said chief state prosecutor Jovencito Zuno. Last Monday, about 100 soldiers, policemen and other Ampatuan gunmen murdered 57 people, including the wife and two sisters of a rival from another Muslim clan, Esmael Mangudadatu. According to media groups at least 22 journalists working for newspapers and TV and radio stations in the southern Mindanao Island region were among the dead — the most reporters killed in a single attack anywhere in the world.

Philippines/Insurgency: UNICEF employee shot dead in Maguindanao

Nestor Bulahan, an employee of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) was shot dead by an unidentified gunman in Maguindanao province on Thursday, police said on Friday. “Bulahan was on board a tricycle and was about to meet a friend at the Old Parang Terminal, Poblacion 2, Parang town at around 10:30 a.m. (local time) when he was approached by the gunman and was shot at close range,” police stated. Bulahan, an employee of the UNICEF in Cotabato City, 960 km south of Manila was shot in the abdomen and died while being treated in a nearby hospital.

UNICEF released a short statement on Friday confirming an employee had been shot but giving few details other than that the incident was not believed to be linked to his work. "A UNICEF staff member was shot yesterday. We cannot confirm his identity or current state," its spokeswoman in the Philippines Angela Travis said in the statement. "He was not on official duty when the incident happened and the incident is believed to be personal."

Police said investigators were still determining a motive for the killing. "We do not know the motive yet," regional police spokesman Superintendent Sigfried Ramos told reporters. The incident occurred after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo placed Maguindanao and nearby Cotabato City under a state of emergency following the massacre.