Manila says Indonesians train rebels in bomb-making

MANILA, Sep 22 (Reuters) Islamic militants from Indonesia have been training radicals in the southern Philippines in bomb-making, local officials said today after the seizure of explosive devices at a guerrilla base in a remote island.

On August 4, soldiers found a stockpile of improvised bombs, some fashioned out of howitzer and mortar rounds, with electronic anti-tamper sensors and digital timers at a hideout of the Abu Sayyaf, the most violent of Islamic separatist groups in the Philippines.

The bulk of the Abu Sayyaf is in mountains in the interior of Jolo island, in the deep south of the Philippines.

''Some of the improvised bombs we saw in Jolo bore striking similarities to the lunchbox-type explosives found in the house where Azahari was killed,'' an intelligence officer told Reuters.

The official was referring to Azahari Husin, a Malaysian engineer who was the top bomb-maker for Jemaah Islamiah, a group fighting for a pan-Islamic state across large parts of Asia.

Azahari, who was killed in 2005 in a raid on an Indonesian safehouse being used by Jemaah, allegedly designed the bombs used in the 2002 Bali bomb attacks and explosions at the Marriott hotel and Australian Embassy in Jakarta.

Philippine officials have said two of Azahari's Indonesian associates Dulmatin and Umnar Patek have been known to be hiding with the Abu Sayyaf on Jolo since February.

The intelligence officer said there could be up to 10 Indonesians hiding on Jolo, training members of the Abu Sayyaf in assembling more sophisticated bombs.

''These improvised bombs show a capability heretofore unseen among local terrorist groups,'' Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz told a forum in Manila yesterday.

''Close similarities to improvised bombs being used in the Middle East and Afghanistan have been noted.'' The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for the worst militant attack in the Philippines, the 2004 bombing of a ferry near Manila that killed more than 100 people.

In the past, it has been known to use mostly crude explosives like pipe bombs or fertiliser-based devices.

Philippine security forces seized about half a tonne of ammonium nitrate, commonly used in fertiliser but also to make crude bombs, from a ferry coming from Jolo earlier this week.

Reuters SY DB1241