Homeland Security

DATE=3/31/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=PHILIPPINE/TERROR (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-314621

BYLINE=MICHAEL BARKER

DATELINE=MANILA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Another suspected terrorist has been captured in Manila one day after the government unveiled an apparent plot by Islamic militants to bomb targets in the Philippine capital. Michael Barker reports from Manila.

TEXT: Police say the suspect had a pistol and bomb making materials in his possession when he was arrested for involvement in an alleged terrorist plot to bomb a shopping mall and railway in Manila. While some reports claim two people were arrested, officials confirm only one arrest.

The capture of the latest suspect comes one day after the government nabbed four other suspected militants and seized a large cache of explosives.

Police are tagging the suspects as members of Abu Sayyaf, a radical Islamic group based in the southern Philippines. U-S and Philippine intelligence officials believe the Abu Sayyaf is training members of Southeast Asia's Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, and has links to al Qaida.

National Security Advisor Norberto Gonzales says Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah may have joined up to stage an attack mimicking the recent bombing in Madrid that killed nearly 200 people.

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We have not established the real linkages but we believe this is Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah working together and they have put up some kind of a cell that will conduct terrorist activities in metropolitan Manila.

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Jemaah Islamiyah has been linked by Philippine police to a series of bomb blasts in Manila, including one on a commuter train in December 2000. (SIGNED)

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