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October 6, 2006

Philippines: Islamist Fugitive's Wife Is Captured On Jolo

News from Manila Times and Associated Press via the Jakarta Post reports that the wife of notorious terrorist Dulmatin has been captured in Jolo, in the southwestern Philippines.

Dulmatin (pictured) is a senior member of Jemaah Islamiyah, and is thought to have organised the group's attack upon tourists in Bali in October 2002, where 202 people were killed. 88 of these were Australian, and 25 were British. Dulmatin has been a fugitive since those blasts. He has a $10 million reward upon his head from the US State Department's Rewards for Justice scheme. His real name is Amar bin Usman.

Dulmatin had an accomplice, Umar Patek, also a fugitive who has a bounty on his head of $1 million. Dulmatin, who is Javanese/Arabic, is an electronics specialist and explosives expert who has trained in al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan. Umar Patek is said to have been the field coordinator in the Bali bombings of 2002.

The pair had taken refuge with Abu Sayyaf members on the Philippines island of Mindanao. Abu Sayyaf is notorious for its kidnappings of civilians and subsequent beheadings. It has links with Jemaah Islamiyah, but is less organized. On February 27, 2004 Abu Sayyaf committed their most ambitious act of terrorism, setting off bombs on a ferry. 116 people died.

Abu Sayyaf has two main ceners of operation. Their traditional base is on the west of Mindanao, in the Liguasan Marsh. They also have a stronghold on the island of Jolo in the maritime province of Sulu. Dulmatin and Umar Patek had been hiding with other Abu Sayyaf members in Liguasan, reputedly staying with the approval of renegade members of MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) who also occupy the marsh region. Currently, MILF is engaged with negotiations with the Filipino government, brokered by Malaysians, about carving out an autonomous homeland on Mindanao for the Moro people.

The Liguasan base was bombed in November and again in January. Dulmatin and Umar Patek, as well as other JI members (Zulkifli bin Hir and Abdul Rahman Ayub) and leaders of Abu Sayyaf took flight. They went to Jolo island, and since August 1 the main encampment of Abu Sayyaf has been bombed. The location was discovered with the aid of satellite imaging from the US military, who have a contingent on the island, training Filipino soldiers. The US is not involved with attacks against the Abu Sayyaf base.

Dulmatin and Umar Patek were believed to be hiding out in this mountainside camp, along with Khadaffy Janjalani, the leader of Abu Sayyaf. We reported on September 11 that a rumor had been made that Umar Patek had been killed following an attack on September 4, in which he was reputedly injured. It appears now that the Philippines army believes Umar Patek to still be alive.

Dulmatin's wife was detained on Wednesday (October 4) in Sandah, Patikul, in the mountainous south of the island of Jolo. According to military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro, she confirmed her identity and said that her husband was still in the vicinity of Patikul.

She had entered the Philippines with her two children, aged 6 and 8, without proper documentation. She was being interrogated for possible terrorist involvement.

Bacarro said: "We believe Dulmatin and Umar Patek are still in Jolo. Our troops are tracking them down. Our operations will continue until they are captured."

At a press conference earlier today, Bacarro identified Dulmatin's wife as Istiada Oemar Sovie, aka Amenah Toha. She is said to have been used by JI members for logistic purposes. The militants got her to "do the marketing, to buy and cook food for them, attend to their needs, even nurse their wounds."

Currently Istiada is being kept with her two children at a secret government location. Bacarro suggested that she may have originally arrived in the Philippines with her husband.

The military maneuver to arrest the senior JI and Abu Sayyaf militants is called Oplan Ultimatum. It involves 6,000 troops. Since the operation began, 13 terrorists have been killed, 10 have been captured, and 7 wounded. 16 Filipinos have been killed and 82 wounded.

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On Monday, October 2, according to Reuters AlertNet, fighting broke out in a remote village near Matnog town on Mindanao between Muslim insurgents and Philippine soldiers. Five people were wounded.

MILF claimed that soldiers had fired on people praying at a mosque. This has been disputed by the army. Lieutenant-Colonel Julieto Ando said the soldiers had been engaged on a routine patrol when they had been ambushed. He said: "It was the rebels who fired the first shot."

Eid Kabalu, spokesman for MILF, said that the incident was isolated, and would not affect peace talks with the Filipino government.

There has been an impasse in talks between MILF and the government, and on Monday, Channel News Asia reported that the government is determined to push the peace talks forward. The stalling happened after MILF demanded economic control of large areas of land which it considers to be its "ancestral domain". The government had said that a plebiscite needs to authorize such a move. MILF, which numbers 12,000 individuals, was formed in 1978. Since it mounted an armed campaign against the government, 50,000 people have died.

On Wednesday October 4, states Khaleej Times an official from the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was shot dead by unidentified assailants.

ARMM was formed on November 6, 1996 on the western edge of Mindanao, including part of the Cotabato plains. The formation of ARMM was part of a peace deal signed between Muslim rebels and the government on August 30,1996. The first governor of this autonomous region was Nur Misaurihead of the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front). In November 2001, after losing support from the citizenship in ARMM, Misauri mounted an armed attack upon an army base in Jolo. He fled to Malaysia, but was extradited. He is currently in prison. He has recently assisted in truce negotiations between MNLF members and the government.

The official who was killed on Wednesday was Amel Batukon, the social fund manager for ARMM, who was being driven to his office in Cotabato city. When snagged in trafic, two assailants ona motorcycle fired at the vehicle. Batukon was hit multiple times, and his chauffeur was seriously injured.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 6, 2006 4:38 PM

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