Word: ermita
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...number of Filipinos, but the bulk of trainees are believed to be Indonesians, along with some Malaysians. The report, which details the location of the three camps and a number of JI "safe houses" in Mindanao and Manila, contradicts last week's relatively reassuring assertion by Defense Minister Eduardo Ermita that there are only 31 JI members active in Mindanao...
...Ermita himself has noted, Manila is in a delicate position when it comes to JI. The government is still attempting to negotiate a cease-fire with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), whose 12,000 guerrillas are fighting to gain autonomy for sections of Mindanao. In earlier peace talks, the MILF foreswore any contact with JI, and its leaders say they will help Manila hunt down the group's members if they seek sanctuary within MILF territory...
...three JI "safe houses" in the city. When police raided these houses?with the help of two American specialists flown in to assist in analyzing evidence?they discovered manuals on bombmaking and on the manufacturing of biological weapons, as well as various bombmaking paraphernalia. Equally ominous, Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita tells TIME they also uncovered a manual on how to set up a JI training school?a document that contains the names of past students and suggests that training of aspiring terrorists is still actively under...
...Although the intelligence services have concrete details identifying 45 JI operatives in the area, Ermita says the total number of foreign Islamic militants is hard to estimate. "Our borders are very porous," he concedes. "We don't have the resources or the navy to protect them, so [terrorists] come and go at will." Other senior government officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, say materials gathered from the safe houses indicate that there are "hundreds" of "heavily armed and well-financed" JI members on the island of Mindanao. Most of these operatives are Indonesian, reveals an official who has access...
...ties with foreign and local terrorists as part of the peace negotiations. Since then, the Philippine government has skirted the subject of JI's presence in Mindanao. "We give our MILF brethren the benefit of the doubt that they are not coddling foreign terrorists," says Defense Secretary Ermita. "But don't give us reasons to act, don't give us incontrovertible proof that you [the MILF] are not living up to the agreement." That, Ermita says, would almost certainly leave the government no choice but to turn to military action, reigniting the guerrilla warfare that has killed and wounded hundreds...