Philippine authorities say they have arrested a key leader of the Abu Sayyaf guerrilla group in Manila and killed five others in a clash in southern Basilan island.
The police and the Philippine army said they arrested Mr Mohammad Faisal Ijajil last week and are investigating his involvement in an Abu Sayyaf plot to stage bomb attacks in Manila.
"He is an Abu Sayyaf, but we are establishing his connection with an Abu Sayyaf unit which planned bombings a few months back," police deputy chief for intelligence Senior Supt Mr Jaime Caringal told AFP.
"The plan [to bomb targets in Manila] is a continuing plan, but they are always being pre-empted by these arrests," he said.
Mr Ijajil participated in an Abu Sayyaf raid on a town in Zamboanga del Sur that left more than 50 people dead in 1995, army spokesman Lt Col Jose Mabanta claimed.
The alleged rebel leader, who has a one million-peso [euro 20,000] bounty on his head, was also wanted for murder and kidnapping, army spokesman Lt Col Mabanta said.
"We have reason to believe that he heads the Manila-based ASG [Abu Sayyaf group] cell," Lt Col Mabanta said, adding Mr Ijajil also maintained a 15-man group operating in the southern island of Basilan.
AFP