MANILA: Filipino authorities have arrested nine women reportedly being groomed as suicide bombers with some belonging to the family of Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, a Daesh-affiliated militant group leader killed in November, the country’s military announced on Tuesday.
The arrests were made during a series of raids in the southern province of Sulu on Friday, said Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan, Jr., commander of the Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom).
“Our troops, together with our partners from the Philippine National Police (PNP) and intelligence units, conducted a simultaneous implementation of search warrants in Jolo, Indanan, and Patikul, all of Sulu, at early dawn on Friday.
“This led to the apprehension of nine female potential suicide bombers who are related to some of the notorious leaders and members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG),” he added.
Meanwhile, Joint Task Force-Sulu public affairs officer, Lt. Jerrica Angela Manongdo, told Arab News that the raids were conducted simultaneously before dawn “to prevent the suspects from having the chance to coordinate with each other.”
She said: “The suspects were just in their house, but upon search by the authorities, they discovered bomb components. The raids were simultaneously implemented so the women could not cooperate with each other.”
Seven of the suspects were arrested in the villages of Bangkal and Latih in Patikul town, with three identified as the daughters of Sawadjaan. They were named as Elena Tasum Sawadjaan-Abun (the widow of an ASG sub-leader), 40, Isara Jalmaani Abduhajan, 36, and Jedah Abduhajan-Amin, 28.
The others being held were identified as Sawadjaan’s sister Linda Darun Maruji alias Appuh Yayang, 66, Risa Jalil, the wife of one of Sawadjaan’s nephews, Firdauzia Said alias Firdausia Salvin, the widow of ASG sub-leader Mannul Said, Sharifa Rajani also known as Indah Wida, and Indah Widz, the wife of another ASG member who had also worked under Sawadjaan.
The remainder, arrested in Tulay village, Jolo, were Nudzha Ismani Aslun, also known as Nudz and Akih, 26, the widow of an ASG member, and Nurshahada Isnain alias Dah, 19, the wife of a trusted aide of Mundi Sawadjaan, the reported mastermind of the recent suicide bombings in Sulu.
Officials said another raid was carried out in the town of Indanan, but “the target managed to elude arrest.”
Among items seized from the suspects were bomb components, including push-button switches, small batteries with a snap, blasting caps, suspected ammonium nitrate oil fuel or ANFO, a hand grenade, several identification cards, and a rough sketch of their terror plan.
The women are facing charges of illegal possession of explosives.
Vinluan said that those arrested had been on Wesmincom’s radar as a result of information provided by ASG sub-leaders who had surrendered to the authorities.
“We were tipped off ... that IEDs (improvised explosive devices) were being assembled in the house of the suspects. There were at least three or four houses. Once the IEDs are ready, that’s when the women get indoctrinated to prepare them to conduct suicide bombings.
“The widows and wives are being used because they (ASG) are having a hard time recruiting. It is also harder to detect female suicide bombers, so they use that. We have been monitoring them. The IEDs are with them, so it’s possible they are slowly being oriented,” the commander added.
Joint Task Force-Sulu Commander Maj. Gen. William Gonzales, said: “This is how desperate the remaining terrorists are, willing to sacrifice their families just to get back at government forces.”
He added that Filipino security forces would “exhaust all ... options to put an end to terrorism” in the south.
“May this serve as a clear message to the supporters and remaining members of the Abu Sayyaf Group. We are always ready to welcome those who wish to return to the folds of the law, but if you refuse to do so, we will surely hunt you down and prevent you from inflicting havoc in the communities,” Gonzales said.
Manongdo pointed out that officials were making “headway” in defeating terrorism.
“Remember Operation Perfect Storm operations on Nov. 3, 2020? One of those who died was Mannul, the projected (successor of Hajan) emir (Daesh Philippines). He died in an interdiction operation (at midsea), so his wife, typical of ASG wives, when their husband dies she will take revenge,” she said.
“Because of their extremist ideology, they are willing to do suicide bombings just like in the case of Cici,” she added, referring in part to Indonesian Rezky Fantasya Rullie, the widow of an Indonesian terrorist killed in Jolo. Known as Cici, she was arrested in October.
“If these kinds of acts continue, it will be unfair for the people of Sulu, which is now generally peaceful. Because even if there’s just one incident of bombing, this will affect the image of the military and the province. All other people here except the few terrorists are making efforts to secure the province,” Manongdo said.
The Philippines’ military confirmed in November the death of Sawadjaan who was on the US’ list of global terrorists and named as the mastermind behind the deadly 2019 cathedral bombing which left 23 people dead and 109 injured.
The ASG is a militant group notorious for kidnappings and its pledged allegiance to Daesh. Sulu province, in the country’s Mindanao region, is a known stronghold of the group.
Filipino authorities arrest 9 women ‘suicide bombers’
https://arab.news/ybvw2
Filipino authorities arrest 9 women ‘suicide bombers’
- The women were captured in raids on houses in three towns in the predominantly Muslim province of Sulu
More than 20 civilians killed in Myanmar air strike on monastery: witnesses
- Myanmar has been consumed by civil war since the military ousted a democratic government in 2021
- A local resident confirmed that the Buddhist monastery hall was ‘completely destroyed’
BANGKOK: More than 20 civilians, including children, were killed after a recent air strike on a monastery in central Myanmar, an anti-junta fighter and a resident said Saturday.
Myanmar has been consumed by civil war since the military ousted a democratic government in 2021, and central Sagaing region has been particularly hard-hit, with the junta pummeling villages with air strikes targeting armed groups.
The most recent occurred around 1:00 am Friday in Lin Ta Lu village when “the monastery hall where internally displaced people were staying” was hit with an air strike, said an anti-junta fighter, who requested anonymity for safety reasons.
He said that 22 people were killed, including three children, while two were wounded and remained in critical condition at the hospital.
“They had thought it was safe to stay at a Buddhist monastery,” the anti-junta fighter said. “But they were bombed anyway.”
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
A local resident confirmed that the monastery hall was “completely destroyed,” adding that he saw some bodies loaded into a car and transported to a cemetery at dawn on Friday after the air strike.
He said when he went to the cemetery to take photos to help with identifying the dead, he counted 22 bodies.
“Many of the bodies had head wounds or were torn apart. It was sad to see,” said the resident, who also asked to remain anonymous.
Sagaing region was the epicenter of a devastating magnitude-7.7 quake in March, which left nearly 3,800 people dead and tens of thousands homeless.
After the quake, there was a purported truce between the junta and armed groups, but air strikes and fighting have continued, according to conflict monitors.
In May, an air strike on a school in the village of Oe Htein Kwin in Sagaing killed 20 students and two teachers.
Russia’s drones and missile barrage targets Ukraine’s west, kills two
- Western Ukrainian cities of Lviv, Lutsk, and Chernivtsi suffered the most due to the Russian attacks
KYIV: Russia launched a new barrage of drones and missiles in an overnight attack on Ukraine on Saturday, targeting the west of the country and killing at least two people in the city of Chernivtsi on the border with Romania.
Western Ukrainian cities of Lviv, Lutsk, and Chernivtsi suffered the most due to the Russian attacks, and other Ukrainian regions were also hit, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said.
“Russia continues to escalate its terror, launching another barrage of hundreds of drones and missiles, damaging residential areas, killing and injuring civilians,” Sybiha said in a post on X, reiterating the call for stronger sanctions against Moscow.
“Russia’s war machine produces hundreds of means of terror per day.
Its scale poses a threat not only to Ukraine, but to the entire transatlantic community.” Ruslan Zaparaniuk, the governor of the Chernivetskyi region, said that two people were killed and 14 others wounded as Russian drones and a missile struck the city, located about 40 kilometers from Ukraine’s border with Romania.
Several fires broke out across the city, and residential houses and administrative buildings were damaged, regional officials said.
In the city of Lviv, on Ukraine’s border with Poland, 46 residential houses, a university building, the city’s courts, and about 20 buildings housing small and medium-sized businesses were damaged in the attack, mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.
Taiwan deploys advanced US HIMARS rockets in annual drills
- Two armored trucks with HIMARS were seen maneuvering around the city of Taichung
- Deployment of weapons on fourth of 10 days of Taiwan’s most comprehensive annual exercises yet
TAICHUNG, Taiwan: Taiwan’s military began deploying one of its newest and most precise strike weapons on Saturday, ahead of live-fire drills meant to showcase the island’s determination to resist any Chinese invasion.
Two armored trucks with HIMARS – High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems – were seen maneuvering around the city of Taichung near Taiwan’s central coast on the fourth of 10 days of its most comprehensive annual exercises yet.
The live-fire portion of the Han Kuang drills is expected next week.
In wartime, said Col. Chen Lian-jia, a military spokesperson, it would be vital to conceal HIMARS from enemy aerial reconnaissance, satellites “or even enemy operatives behind our lines” until the order to fire was given.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has intensified military pressure around the island over the last five years, staging a string of intense war games and daily naval and air force patrols around the territory.
Taiwan rejects China’s sovereignty claims, with President Lai Ching-te saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
China’s defense ministry said this week the Han Kuang drills were “nothing but a bluff” while its foreign ministry said its opposition to US-Taiwan military ties was “consistent and very firm.”
Regional military attaches say the HIMARS deployment in a warlike exercise will be closely watched, given that they have been used extensively by Ukraine against Russian forces. Australia has also purchased the Lockheed Martin systems. Taiwan took delivery last year of the first 11 of 29 HIMARS units, testing them for the first time in May. With a range of about 300 kilometers, the weapons could strike coastal targets in China’s southern province of Fujian on the other side of the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwanese military analysts say the weapon would be used with its locally developed Thunderbolt 2000 launchers so Chinese forces could be targeted as they left port or attempted to land on Taiwan’s coast. A Thunderbolt unit was also seen in a park near the HIMARS units.
Senior Taiwanese military officials say the Han Kuang drills are unscripted and designed to replicate full combat conditions, starting with simulated enemy attacks on communications and command systems, leading to a full-blown invasion scenario.
The drills aim to show China and the international community, including Taiwan’s key weapons supplier the US, that Taiwan is determined to defend itself against any Chinese attack or invasion, the officials say.
Cambodian sites of Khmer Rouge brutality added to UNESCO heritage list
- The three locations were inscribed to the list by the United Nations cultural agency on Friday
- The UNESCO inscription was Cambodia’s first nomination for a modern and non-classical archaeological site
PHNOM PENH: Three locations used by Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime as torture and execution sites 50 years ago have been added by UNESCO to its World Heritage List.
The three locations were inscribed to the list by the United Nations cultural agency Friday during the 47th Session of the World Heritage Committee in Paris.
The inscription coincided with the 50th anniversary of the rise to power by the communist Khmer Rouge government, which caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians through starvation, torture and mass executions during a four-year reign from 1975 to 1979.
UNESCO’s World Heritage List lists sites considered important to humanity and includes the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the Taj Mahal in India and Cambodia’s Angkor archaeological complex.
The three sites listed Friday include two notorious prisons and an execution site immortalized in a Hollywood film.
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, located in the capital Phnom Penh, is the site of a former high school used by the Khmer Rouge as a notorious prison. Better known as S-21, about 15,000 people were imprisoned and tortured there.
The M-13 prison, located in rural Kampong Chhnang province in central Cambodia, also was regarded as one of the main prisons of the early Khmer Rouge.
Choeung Ek, located about 15 kilometers south of the capital, was used as an execution site and mass grave. The story of the atrocities committed there are the focus of the 1984 film “The Killing Fields,” based on the experiences of New York Times photojournalist Dith Pran and correspondent Sydney Schanberg.
The Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, and immediately herded almost all the city’s residents into the countryside, where they were forced to toil in harsh conditions until 1979, when the regime was driven from power by an invasion from neighboring Vietnam.
In September 2022, the UN-backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, better known as the Khmer Rouge tribunal, concluded its work compiling cases against Khmer Rouge leaders. The tribunal cost $337 million over 16 years but convicted just three men.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet issued a message Friday directing people to beat drums simultaneously across the country Sunday morning to mark the UNESCO listing.
“May this inscription serve as a lasting reminder that peace must always be defended,” Hun Manet said in a video message posted online. “From the darkest chapters of history, we can draw strength to build a better future for humanity.”
Youk Chhang, executive director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, said the country is “still grappling with the painful legacies of genocide, torture, and mass atrocity.” But naming the three sites to the UNESCO list will play a role in educating younger generations of Cambodians and others worldwide.
“Though they were the landscape of violence, they too will and can contribute to heal the wounds inflicted during that era that have yet to heal,” he said.
The UNESCO inscription was Cambodia’s first nomination for a modern and non-classical archaeological site and is among the first in the world to be submitted as a site associated with recent conflict, Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts said in a statement Friday.
Four Cambodian archaeological sites were previously inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites including Angkor, Preah Vihear, Sambo Prei Kuk and Koh Ker, the ministry said.
Colombian authorities arrest alleged leader of Italian mafia in Latin America
- Italian Giuseppe Palermo, also known as ‘Peppe,’ was wanted under an Interpol red notice, which called for his arrest in 196 countries
- He was apprehended on the street in Colombia’s capital Bogota during a coordinated operation
BOGOTA: Colombian authorities said Friday they captured an alleged leader of the Italian ‘ndrangheta mafia in Latin America who is accused of overseeing cocaine shipments and managing illegal trafficking routes to Europe.
Police identified the suspect as Giuseppe Palermo, also known as “Peppe,” an Italian who was wanted under an Interpol red notice, which called for his arrest in 196 countries.
He was apprehended on the street in Colombia’s capital Bogota during a coordinated operation between Colombian, Italian and British authorities, as well as Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, according to an official report.
Palermo is believed to be part of “one of the most tightly knit cells” of the ‘ndrangheta mafia, said Carlos Fernando Triana, head of the Colombian police, in a message posted on X.
The ‘ndrangheta, one of Italy’s most powerful and secretive criminal organizations, has extended its influence abroad and is widely accused of importing cocaine into Europe.
The suspect “not only led the purchase of large shipments of cocaine in Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador, but also controlled the maritime and land routes used to transport the drugs to European markets,” Triana added.
Illegal cocaine production reached 3,708 tons in 2023, an increase of nearly 34 percent from the previous year, driven mainly by the expansion of coca leaf cultivation in Colombia, according to the United Nations.
