Only ‘tip of iceberg’ scratched by campaign vs Luzon terror group – sources

By BENJIE VILLA

 TARLAC CITY – As the seven suspected terrorists nabbed in an alleged terror headquarters in the island town of Anda in Pangasinan have been set free on bail, highly-placed sources have it that the campaign against the mysterious al-Qaeda-linked group in Central and Northern Luzon merely “scratched the tip of the iceberg.”

            For still at large are two alleged terrorist leaders, Islamic teacher Abdurakman “Abdul” Quirante and a Saudi national identified only as Sheik Hamod. 

            So far, Quirante and Hamod were the only ones identified by nabbed suspected terrorists as the leaders of the shadowy Islamic extremist group called Haraka (The Movement). 

            The former allegedly oversaw a suspected terrorist training camp overrun by police forces in the upland sitios of Dueg and Babaelan in Barangay Maasin in San Clemente, Tarlac, while Hamod was reportedly in charge of the group’s headquarters in Anda, which supposedly used a Madrasah (Islamic school) as a front for its operations.

            Unimpeachable sources in the intelligence community have it that all of the arrested suspects happen to be mere “foot soldiers” of Haraka, and that government operatives have yet to identify and nab other ranking colleagues of Quirante and Hamod.

            Besides, authorities remained silent if they were already able to establish the whereabouts of the two suspected terror leaders, although ranking police officials in Central and Northern Luzon claimed to have neutralized Haraka.

             With this, Armed Forces chief, Gen. Roy Cimatu, urged late last week the Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM) based in this city to be on alert to prevent a possible retaliation by Haraka radicals, who may avenge the death of one of their comrades and the succeeding crackdown on their ranks.

            Haraka extremists are suspected of being “sleepers” or covert operatives who mingle with common people waiting to be called into action.

            The group was unmasked last May 1 after lawmen in this city engaged six suspected terrorists in a gunfight in Barangay San Nicolas, which led to the killing of one Khalid Amir and the arrest of 20-year-old student radical Dexter Mayuno, alias Omar.

            Mayuno’s confession led to the assault on the alleged terror headquarters in Anda last May 2, and the raid of the suspected terror camp in San Clemente last May 3, where a 13-year-old cousin of actor Robin Padilla, who was reportedly undergoing indoctrination on Islamic extremism, was also nabbed.

            Mayuno and Padilla’s cousin are still under the custody of the Tarlac police.

            Intelligence sources suspect that Haraka is “a well-organized group,” as they noted how the seven suspected terrorists nabbed in Anda were able to bail out at P60,000 each.

            The sources said that the bail for all the suspects was “nearly half a million pesos.”

            The Pangasinan suspects, together with those nabbed in Tarlac, were only criminally charged for illegal possession of firearms, ammunitions and explosives.

            Haraka  is being alleged by Central Luzon police authorities of having links with the suspected South East Asian arm of al-Qaeda called Jeemah Islamiah, which is being led by Indonesian Muslim extremist cleric Riduan Isamuddi.