Military places Mindanao on highest terror alert

By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 02:46pm (Mla time) 01/11/2007

MANILA -- THE military has placed Mindanao on its highest terror alert level -- "extreme critical" – citing the possibility of more attacks following three successive bombings there Wednesday evening.

The alert was adjusted one notch from "extreme severe" immediately after the explosions rocked the cities of General Santos, Kidapawan, and Cotabato, killing seven people and wounding 37 others, said military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro.

The terror alert in Metro Manila and Cebu province, which is hosting the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), remains "moderate" meaning, while there is an intention to carry out attacks, threat groups do not have the capability to launch attacks in these places, Bacarro said.

"Extreme critical alert means there has been an attack and there is a possibility of follow-up attacks," Bacarro told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo.

The extreme critical alert is on top of the red alert the military raised before the bombings. Under a red alert, all leaves are cancelled and troops required to report to their units.

Security forces recently adopted a four-step terror warning system -- low, moderate, high, and extreme. Bacarro said the extreme alert had two sub-alerts, extreme severe and the highest, extreme critical.

Bacarro said Islamic extremists who want to avenge the death of their comrades in recent encounters with the military, groups out to sabotage peace negotiations between the government and Muslim rebels, and warring clans could be behind the triple explosions.

"These could be retaliatory attacks," the spokesman said. "Even before these incidents, we've had information that there is a possibility to conduct terrorist activities outside of Jolo."

He refused to directly link the explosions to the ASEAN summit, saying, "If it [attacks] were meant for the ASEAN, it will be conducted in the vicinity [of the summit]," he said.

"Definitely, Cebu is safe," Bacarro added.

Bacarro said the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) could be out to divert the military's attention from pursuit operations against their leaders in Jolo, Sulu, following the deaths of three Abu Sayyaf sub-commanders and an Indonesian JI militant, among seven extremists killed in encounters since Saturday.

Asked if the three explosions were related, Bacarro said: "That is one of the subjects of our investigation…As of now it is too early to say."

Bacarro said police investigators are examining the debris collected from the blast sites. He said the improvised bomb that went off in Cotabato City was composed of mortar rounds triggered by a cellular phone, similar to those used in earlier attacks blamed on extremists.

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