April 23, 1995, The Filipino Express, Abu Sayyaf raid has links to international terrorists, by Dave Veridiano,

April 23, 1995, The Filipino Express, Abu Sayyaf raid has links to international terrorists, by Dave Veridiano,

Last week's attack by Moslem guerrillas on the southern town of Ipil showed "trans-national terrorism" had reached the Philippines, a government minister said on April 10.

Interior Secretary Rafael Alunan said the fundamentalist Abu Sayyaf group which massacred more than 50 people in Ipil last week was bitterly opposed to peace talks with the government and had put mainstream Moslem rebel leader Nur Misuari on a "hit list."

Misuari, veteran head of the Moro National Liberation Front, is due to hold a new round of peace talks with the government in June. The Front is seeking autonomy for the country's Moslem minority.

Alunan told a Senate inquiry the Abu Sayyaf had links to international extremists such as Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and the Ipil raid showed "transnational terrorism is now at our doorstep."

Yousef is being held by U.S. authorities for allegedly masterminding the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York which killed six people and wounded about 1,000 others.

He was in Manila in January but managed to escape arrest after police raided his hideout. President Fidel Ramos had said Yousef was involved in an alleged plot to kill Pope John Paul during the Pontiff's Philippine visit that month.

Alunan said Abu Sayyaf's main purpose was too provoke war between Moslems and Christians in the Southern Philippines.

Their next goal was to set up an Islamic state in the southern Philippines, he said.

"They're very much against the peace process," he said. "As a matter of fact... Nur Misauri is on their hit list."

Moslem leaders have said many young people have lost faith with political leaders such as Misuari and were increasingly attracted to extremism.

Alunan said last weekend that the Abu Sayyaf was part of a global network of fundamentalists stretching from the Middle East to Afghanistan and Pakistan and to the United States.