Philippine President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo has ordered a stepped up manhunt for Muslim extremists after police captured nine suspected members of a cell linked to the al-Qaida network, officials said today.
The nine, all converts to Islam, were arrested in raids since May 1 in the Christian-dominated provinces of Pangasinan and Tarlac, north of Manila, on the main island of Luzon, regional police chief Brigadier-General Reynaldo Berroya said.
Three guns, several grenades, ammunition, communications equipment and binoculars were seized from the group.
One of the suspects denied the group had any link to extremists or to Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, which the United States has accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
"The president has ordered us to intensify our operations against the others who may be connected with the group," Mr Berroya told Reutersby phone. "Hopefully, we will be able to make more arrests."
He said interrogation of the suspects and "an analysis of documents" seized from them showed they belonged to one of several underground cells set up by al-Qaida on Luzon.