Arroyo vows to finish off Muslim militants

Manila, Jan 18: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo vowed today to defeat Islamic militants ''with a hand of steel'' and to work closer with its allies to stop the movement of bombers and their funds.

Arroyo met with senior army commanders at the main military camp in Manila, a day after US-trained soldiers claimed to have killed a leader of the country's most dangerous militant group, Abu Sayyaf, in a clash at a rebel camp in the south.

''This government is determined to finish the job with a hand of steel against evil,'' Arroyo said in a statement, commending troops for their success against Abu Sayyaf, accused of kidnapping and beheading tourists and deadly bomb attacks.

''The relentless pressure we have applied in the field is taking its toll and we will keep it up until all terrorists and their clandestine cells are accounted for.'' The military said yeserday troops had killed Jainal Antel Sali, alias Abu Sulaiman and one of the top five leaders of Abu Sayyaf, in a gun battle on the island of Jolo, a stronghold of the militant group.

Government troops have killed a number of Abu Sayyaf senior commanders in recent weeks, including Binang Sali, considered to be one of the group's spiritual leaders.

''Right now, they are suffering from a leadership vacuum and they are now disorganised,'' said Lieutenant-Colonel Bartolome Bacarro. ''We will keep up the tempo.

''We cannot give you a timeframe but the armed forces of the Philippines, by direction of the president, is really bent on destroying the Abu Sayyaf group.'' Last week, the Philippines signed a convention on counter-terrorism with its Southeast Asian neighbours during the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit on the central resort island of Cebu.

Arroyo said the agreement would ''tighten the dragnet and stop the movement of terrorists, their finances and their deadly material across the seas and borders''.

Abu Sayyaf has only 400 or so members, most of them trapped on Jolo island, but it has been held responsible for the Philippines' worst terrorist attack, the bombing of a ferry near Manila Bay in 2004 that killed at least 100 people.

Abu Sayyaf has links with Jemaah Islamiah, which is fighting for a pan-Asian Islamic state.

REUTERS