[Kabar-indonesia] Indonesia Militant's Wife: Spouse Training Filipino Rebels

[Joyo at aol.com]

Indonesia Militant's Wife: Spouse Training Filipino Rebels

MANILA, Oct. 9 (AP)--The detained wife of a top Indonesian militant has told 
investigators her husband and at least six other Jemaah Islamiyah operatives 
are still in the Philippines training local insurgents, officials said 
Monday. 

The suspects included Indonesians Dulmatin and Umar Patek, suspected plotters 
of the 2002 nightclub bombings in Bali, Indonesia that killed 202 people, 
according 
to Dulmatin's wife, Istiada Binti Oemar Sovie. 

She was detained by Philippine troops on southern Jolo island last week. 

She told investigators that Dulmatin's students in covert terror training 
camps included members of the Muslim rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which 
is engaged in peace talks with the government, and the smaller but more violent 
Abu Sayyaf group, two security officials told The Associated Press. 

The intelligence officials, who had access to Istiada's interrogation report, 
spoke 
on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the 
press. 

The MILF has denied any links with Jemaah Islamiyah or other terrorist 
groups. 

Indonesian police were planning to travel to the Philippines to interrogate 
Istiada, 
who was being held for immigration violations. 

Philippine authorities have not decided whether to immediately deport her or 
hold 
her for further interrogation, which could bolster criminal cases against 
Filipino militants. 

In an interrogation report seen by the AP, Istiada said her husband, together 
with Patek and a Singaporean Jemaah Islamiyah operative identified only as 
Manobo, were still hiding on Jolo, about 940 kilometers south of Manila. 

U.S.-backed Philippine troops have been combing the Jolo jungles since Aug. 
1, occasionally clashing with well-armed militants believed to be protecting 
the Indonesians and their Abu Sayyaf cohorts. 

Dulmatin's wife saw her husband in Jolo in August and last talked with him 
via 
mobile phone last month, discussing only family matters, the intelligence 
report 
said. 

Four other key Indonesian operatives were hiding in southern Maguindanao 
province, near Jolo, the report quoted her as saying. 

Istiada also detailed how she, her children and a sister-in-law fled from 
Indonesia to the southern Philippine region of Mindanao a few years ago. 

She said MILF and Abu Sayyaf militants gave them sanctuary in a number of 
southern provinces, but another local rebel group, the Moro National Liberation 
Front, turned them away from one area in Jolo early this year. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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