July 9, 2003, The Philippine Star, Philippines: Separatists rebel pleads guilty to Manila bomb attack,

July 9, 2003, The Philippine Star, Philippines: Separatists rebel pleads guilty to Manila bomb attack,

Self-confessed separatist rebel Saifullah Yunos pleaded guilty yesterday to charges that he helped plan the terrorist bombing of a Light Rail Transit coach which killed 19 people in Manila on 30 December, 2000. The 31-year-old exclaimed "yes" through an interpreter when Judge Lucia Purugganan told him he could be punished by death for his admission to the blast, which killed 19 people and wounded over a hundred others.

Yunos, alias Moklis Yunos, who claims to be a Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) sub-commander, pleaded guilty during arraignment before the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 54. Purruganan has set a pre-trial hearing on 21 July. He was charged with multiple murder, a capital offence, and multiple attempted murder. He had been charged in absentia before his arrest last 25 May at Lumbia airport in Cagayan de Oro City as he was about to board a plane for Manila. [passage omitted]

Prosecutors also charged Monday [7 July] several suspected leaders of Al-Qa'idah-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) group with plotting and financing the attack: Isamuddin Riduan, also known as Hambali, who is at large; Abubakar Bafana Faiz, detained in Singapore; and Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, detained at Camp Crame in Quezon City. Five Filipinos, all believed to belong to the MILF, were also charged in absentia.

Prosecutors said Yunos was the head of a crack MILF terror squad and that the bomb attack was financed by the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah. The Indonesia-based JI is said to be the Southeast Asian chapter of Al-Qa'idah network of Usamah Bin-Ladin. [passage omitted]

Anti-terrorism officials across Southeast Asia say JI aims to establish a Muslim extremist stronghold in the region and blame the group for last year's Bali bombings that killed 202 people, and for alleged plots to attack Western and Israeli targets in Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. Philippine intelligence officials said the suspected collusion between JI and the MILF in carrying out the Rizal Day bombings proves that the Filipino guerrillas have had links with foreign terrorists. [passage omitted]