Posted on 01/07/2007 7:33:20 AM PST by Valin
MANILA (AP): An Indonesian member of the al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) was among six Muslim militants killed at the weekend in a sea clash with Philippine troops off the country's southern coast, an official said Sunday. The Philippine army, navy, and marines were involved in Saturday's gunbattle that killed the six militants aboard a motorboat off Tawi Tawi province, 1,050 kilometers southwest of Manila, navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Giovanni Carlo Bacordo said.
Indonesian terrorist suspect Gufran, allegedly belonged to the Indonesian-based militant group JI, was among the dead, Bacordo said. Five Filipinos members of Abu Sayyaf, a group also thought to have links to al-Qaeda, also were killed, he said.
Gufran was a key aide of Dulmatin, a top Indonesian terror suspect who has been hunted by troops in a months long U.S.-backed offensive on southern Jolo island, he said. Gufran's reported death bolsters military reports that Indonesian militants have taken refuge in the southern Philippines -- scene of a decades-old Islamic separatist insurgency.
Philippine authorities reported on Saturday that among the Filipino militants killed was Judnam Jamalul. Jamalul was among 17 Abu Sayyaf members, including the group's chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, who are wanted by the United States for attacks onAmerican citizens. U.S. and Philippine authorities have offered a reward of US$20,000 for Jamalul's capture.
Another ranking Abu Sayyaf member, Abu Hubaida, and two key aides of Janjalani and prominent Abu Sayyaf commander Abu Sulaiman were also killed in Saturday's clash. Troops recovered two M16 rifles, an M203 grenade launcher and huge amounts of ammunition on the rebels' boat, marine spokesman Lt. Col. ArielCaculitan said.
Troops were pursuing the militants but they managed to flee from Jolo two days ago. Marines spotted and engaged the group Saturday in a firefight off Tawi Tawi, he said. An officer involved in the assault said the military had information that the militants were planning to carry out kidnappings in Tawi Tawi to raise funds. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media. More than 7,000 army troops and marines have been hunting the Abu Sayyaf's top leaders and allied Indonesian militants since Aug. 1 but have failed so far to find them. The militants' death Saturday was among the most important achievements of that campaign, Caculitan said.
Janjalani was reportedly killed in a clash on Jolo in September and troops recovered what were believed to be his remains last month. U.S. forensic experts are helping verify the identity of the body using DNA tests
When will the president tell the American people that Islam has declared war on western civilization?
When it does. The problem is way too many people here think that the terrorists represent Islam as it is practiced and lived by the vast majority of Muslims. Way to many people get thier view of Islam from the Robert Spencers of the world.
Believe what you want... I'll trust my eyes.
Another pesky militant.
No, the problem is that over the past 5 years in particular, this mysterious vast global majority of peace loving muslims you describe hasn't taken a visible and decisive stand against so called islamic radicals in the name of their peaceful religion. It's way past gut check time. They either are for us or are against us.
Really? You don't see it? All I can say is you're not looking. I see it all the time.
How about sharing some of that diverse islamic peace and harmony visual here on FR? You know, for the sake of truth, justice and the American way.
Here's some
The Muslim media's culture of death-We need to stop creating more Bin Ladens and Arafats
Jerusalem Post ^ | 4-13-05 | SHOAIB CHOUDHURY
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1382721/posts
International Coalition Against Political Islam
http://www.icapi.org/
Tarek Heggy
http://www.heggy.org/
MALAYSIAN SINGER RELEASES SONG URGING MUSLIMS TO 'WAKE UP!'
Adnki ^ | August 19 | AKI
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1467893/posts
A Man of Light Passes Away in Indonesia (Good article)
Asharq Al Awsat ^ | 9/9/05 | Amir Taheri
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1481048/posts
Zalmay Khalizad
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Zalmay%20Khalizad%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&hl=en&sa=N&tab=dw
Muslim) Informants in American Service
The Strategy Page ^ | June 4, 2006 | The Strategy Page
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1643576/posts
Mohammed Arkoun
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Mohammed+Arkoun+%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&hl=en&cat=gwd%2FTop
Ayman Taha
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Ayman%20Taha%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&hl=en&oe=ISO-8859-1&sa=N&tab=dw
Chechen spiritual leaders declare holy war on terrorism in the republic (Wahhabism is evil)
RIA Novosti) ^
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1456960/posts
I could also mention that in the last elections held in Malaysia & Indonesia the Islamist parties got soundly defeated. Or I could mention the members of the Iraqi army that are fighting and dieing along side American soldiers.
"To most Americans, bin Laadins declaration is a travesty, a gross distortion of the nature and porpuse of US presence in Arabia. They shouls also be aware that for many, perhaps most Muslims, the declaration is an equally grotesque travesty of the nature of Islam, and even it's doctrine of jihad."
Dr. Bernard Lewis
The Crisis of Islam
Holy war and unholy terror page..xxxii
The radical loser (Long Read)
Der Spiegel ^ | 1/12/05 | Hans Magnus Enzensberger
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1694568/posts
(snip)
There is also no mistaking other similarities, such as the fixation with written authorities. The place of Marx and Lenin is taken by the Koran, references are made not to Gramsci but to Sayyid Qutb. Instead of the international proletariat, it takes as its revolutionary subject the Umma, and as its avant-garde and self-appointed representative of the masses it takes not The Party but the widely branching conspiratorial network of Islamist fighters. Although the movement can draw on older rhetorical forms which to outsiders may sound high-flown or big-mouthed, it owes many of its idées fixes to its Communist enemy: history obeys rigid laws, victory is inevitable, deviationists and traitors are to be exposed and then, in fine Leninist tradition, bombarded with ritual insults.
The movement's list of favourite foes is also short on surprises: America, the decadent West, international capital, Zionism. The list is completed by the unbelievers, that is to say the remaining 5.2 billion people on the planet. Not forgetting apostate Muslims who may be found among the Shiites, Ibadhis, Alawites, Zaidites, Ahmadiyyas, Wahhabis, Druze, Sufis, Kharijites, Ishmaelites or other religious communities.
(snip)
Contrary to what the West appears to believe, the destructive energy of Islamist actions is directed mainly against Muslims. This is not a tactical error, not a case of "collateral damage". In Algeria alone, Islamist terror has cost the lives of at least 50,000 fellow Algerians. Other sources speak of as many as 150,000 murders, although the military and the secret services were also involved. In Iraq and Afghanistan, too, the number of Muslim victims far outstrips the death toll among foreigners. Furthermore, terrorism has been highly detrimental not only to the image of Islam but also to the living conditions of Muslims around the world.
The Islamists are as unconcerned about this as the Nazis were about the downfall of Germany. As the avant-garde of death, they have no regard for the lives of their fellow believers. In the eyes of the Islamists, the fact that most Muslims have no desire to blow themselves and others sky high only goes to show that they deserve no better than to be liquidated themselves. After all, the aim of the radical loser is to make as many other people into losers as possible. As the Islamists see it, the fact that they are in the minority can only be because they are the chosen few.
(snip)
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