Massive manhunt launched after bomber escapes jail

SOUTH-EAST Asian governments launched a massive security dragnet for a top Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) bomb-maker who bolted from a Philippine jail, as Western security partners warned of heightened threats to the region.

Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, neighbouring countries where Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi may try to reach if he eludes Philippine authorities, are cooperating in the hunt, officials said yesterday.

A “general alarm” has been raised by the Philippine military and police as well as intelligence agencies to find al-Ghozi, who escaped on Monday from a high-security cell inside Manila’s national police headquarters. A reward of more than €80,000 was also put up by the police for al-Ghozi. Filipino officials said the escape could be an inside job meant to embarrass President Gloria Arroyo.

“Indonesia and Malaysia have been alerted and there is a big manhunt,” National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said. “This is probably the biggest manhunt in the Philippines so far, and maybe even in the region.”

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, in Manila for the first leg of his Asian tour, said the escape was a “serious setback” and warned that the JI could still mount fresh attacks in a region still shaken by the Bali bombings that left more than 200 people dead last year. He said an initial probe showed the JI’s “network is more extensive than first thought, and there’s still a great deal that we don’t know”.

“The JI and other groups are still likely to have capacity to mount further terrorist attacks,” he said.

US embassy spokesman Frank Jenista said the escape “raises the threat of terror” in the Philippines, and added his government was “deeply disturbed” by the ease of al-Ghozi’s escape. The Indonesian convict, who fled with two Filipino Muslim militants from the Abu Sayyaf group, is a self-confessed JI bomb expert who was serving a 17-year jail term for illegal possession of explosives. He has admitted to playing a crucial role in a bomb attack on a Manila railway station and other public installations that killed 22 people in 2000, as well as of planning attacks on Western targets in Singapore.

Security officials said he is the most senior JI leader ever convicted in the region, adding that he is well trained and could easily organise attacks.

Armed forces spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Lucero said troops were told to intercept al-Ghozi if he tried to make contact with Muslim separatist rebels in the main southern Philippine island of Mindanao.

Lucero added: “We’re gathering intelligence information on the possible escape routes such as airports, seaports, bus terminals in Mindanao.”