Philippine Military Arrest 2 Terrorists

Philippine government forces arrested two suspected members of the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf in separate military actions in Zamboanga City and Basilan province in southern Philippines on Monday, the military said in a statement. The statement, issued by army Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon in Fort Bonifacio, Metro Manila on Tuesday, identified the arrested suspects as Al-Amin Lahi Uddin, who was captured in a fighting between government forces and the Abu Sayyaf men near Zamboanga City, and Mustafa Kasim Arala, who was caught in a public market in Basilan by military intelligence agents. Arala is said to be one of the trusted men of the late Abu Sayyaf chieftain Ustadz Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani who was killed in 1998. He was succeeded by his younger brother, Khadaffy Janjalani. Listed as one of the terrorist groups operating the Philippinesby the US government, the Abu Sayyaf group is allegedly reponsible for the kidnapping and killing of a number of foreigners and Filipinos in southern Mindanao region in the late 1990s. It is also held reponsible for a number of bombing attacks in Metro Manila and Mindanao in the past several years, in which more than 100 people were killed.