AP News, November 15th, 2007
Police killed three people, including a suspected Muslim militant, and detained three others in a raid Thursday linked to a deadly bombing outside the country's Congress.
Tuesday's blast killed a Muslim lawmaker, Rep. Wahab Akbar, and three other people. Police said they suspect it was an attack on Akbar because he is believed to have had ties to al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants, but then backed military attacks against them.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo called the raid "a significant breakthrough" in the investigation, and commended informants who tipped off authorities.
Police officers and army intelligence operatives were trying to serve an arrest warrant when they were fired upon by a suspected Abu Sayyaf militant, Manila police chief Geary Barias said.
They shot back, killing the suspected militant and two others, including a woman, he said. Three other men inside the house in suburban Quezon City, about a half-mile from the House of Representatives, surrendered and were detained, Barias said.
He said officers found a license plate and a deed of sale for a motorcycle whose identification numbers matched those of the motorcycle used in the bombing.
"They are suspects in the bombing," Barias said.
Officers also found an ID card of one of the men in custody indicating he was a congressional staffer, but were trying to determine whether it was genuine, he said.
They also recovered a congressman's license plate with its district markings erased.
Barias said earlier that Akbar joined the Abu Sayyaf in the 1990s when it had just launched a campaign to set up an Islamic state in the southern Philippines.
As the group started attacking Christians, kidnapping and beheading hostages, Akbar quit and supported U.S.-backed military operations against the militants in his Basilan province.
In a speech two months ago, Akbar denied any Abu Sayyaf links, calling the allegation "a lie told a thousand times" by the military, police and his political enemies. But he admitted meeting with Abu Sayyaf founder Abdurajak Janjalani — who was killed in 1998 — while the two were in Libya and later in the Philippines. Akbar said Janjalani's behavior "is not acceptable to my taste."
As Basilan governor in 2002, he welcomed U.S. troops who trained Filipino soldiers battling Abu Sayyaf. Over the years, the island was gradually transformed from a militant hotbed into a showcase of counterterrorism success and humanitarian development.
Akbar has said he used to be "a laborer, a driver, a bakery owner, a fishpond owner, a fish broker, a banana broker, a cigarette smuggler, a coconut harvester, a rebel, a student."
He had many enemies, including some who ran and lost against one of his three wives, who succeeded him as Basilan governor. Another wife won election as mayor of the provincial capital.
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Associated Press writers Oliver Teves and Teresa Cerojano contributed to this report.
