Slain Philippine militant had no link with al Qaeda

Manila, Jan 22: The slain leader of the Philippines' deadliestIslamic militant group said in his last interview that he had no linkswith al Qaeda but had received funds from two men close to Osama binLaden, a newspaper said today.

Khaddafy Janjalani, who was killed by Philippine troops inSeptember, said in the interview conducted last February that his AbuSayyaf group had operatives from the regional Jemaah Islamiah (JI)network in its ranks, but no formal links.

''We don't even know bin Laden or any leader of JI, how can wehave links?'' Janjalani said in the interview with a universityprofessor which was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

''What is true is that we have some JI field operatives who gowith us anywhere. We actually don't mind who they are, provided theyare willing to be our helping hands and follow our way of doing thingshere; we can't afford to be choosy.'' Janjalani was mortally wounded ina clash with troops on the remote island of Jolo in September, themilitary has said. Captured Abu Sayyaf militants led soldiers to hisgrave in December and forensic tests last week established his identity.

The 31-year-old was the most wanted man in the Philippines and hewas on a US terrorist blacklist, carrying a bounty of 5 million dollarson his head.

He said Abu Sayyaf had received funds from Jamal Khalifa, binLaden's brother-in-law, and from Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted forthe 1993 attack on the World Trade Center in New York.

''They needed at the time volunteers for Afghanistan while weneeded money to buy arms, ammunition and other necessities to fight theoppressive government,'' Janjalani said in the interview with ProfessorOctavio Dinampo of the Mindanao State University in the southernPhilippines.

''We reciprocated their assistance by providing them withvolunteers.'' Yousef is serving a life sentence for the World TradeCenter bombing while Khalifa, who has said he is no longer close to binLaden, is believed to be living in Saudi Arabia.

The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for a series of kidnappings,executions, bomb blasts and acts of piracy in the Philippines,including the country's worst terror attack, a bombing of a passengerferry that killed over 100 people in 2004.

About 400 or so militants from the group are fighting US-trainedPhilippine troops on Jolo and are believed to have been joined by 30 orso Indonesians who belong to Jemaah Islamiah.

These are believed to include two men who have been blamed for the 2002 bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali.

Reuters >