Monday, February 9, 2015

No specific JI threat vs. Pope Francis – National Security Adviser

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 9): No specific JI threat vs. Pope Francis – National Security Adviser

Malacanang on Monday said the government’s security forces did not receive specific bombing threats against Pope Francis during his visit to the country last January.

Asked whether President Benigno Aquino III knew about the bombing threat by the terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) against the Pontiff, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda forwarded to reporters an SMS by National Security Council Director-General and National Security Adviser Secretary Cesar P. Garcia Jr.

“No specific report to this effect was received, and this threat was thereafter assessed to be minimal,” Garcia’s SMS said.

Reports have been circulating saying there were assassination threats against the Pontiff, thus, the government put in extra effort to strengthen security during the Pope’s visit last January 15 to 19.

Relatively, JI is again on the news following the Special Action Force’s (SAF) operations to arrest and capture Malaysian terrorist Zulkipli bin Hir, a.k.a. Marwan, who is being hunted by the US govermment; and Filipino bomb expert Abdul Basit Usman,

The government has said that Marwan was killed during the SAF operations on January 25, 2015 in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, which resulted to the death of 44 members of the police’s elite group.

The SAF members died after a “misencounter with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as well as gunfight with the Mindanao-based Muslim militant organization Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and armed groups.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=733935

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