Hambali reportedly said the MILF received U.S.$27,000

By Rexcel Sorza, IOL Correspondent

ILOILO CITY, Philippine, October 11 (IslamOnline.net) – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) belied a news report, which was based on an alleged confession of a suspected terrorist, that it had received a sum of money from the al-Qaeda in summer this year.

Lawyer Eid kabalu, MILF spokesman, belied the Time Magazine report, saying that the purported confession of alleged terrorist and al-Qaeda operative Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, is untrue.

“It’s definitely not true. We have said this before and we are standing by our earlier statements. We are not connected in any way with the al-Qaeda and all terrorist groups,” Kabalu told IslamOnline.net Saturday, October 11.

He pointed out that it would help if the United States, which is in custody of Hambali, reveals the identity of the supposed contacts of Hambali in the MILF. “We would make anyone of us named as the contact answer the allegation.”

He also pointed out that they are committed to resolving their struggle through peaceful means. “We don’t kill the way these supposed terrorists want to do,” he stressed.

Time Magazine, in its October 13 issue, quoted Hambali as saying that he has received U.S.$130,000 in June this year from al-Qaeda. Hambali’s (alleged) confessions were contained in the summaries of interrogations that Time said it has obtained.

Of the amount, Hambali reportedly said the MILF received U.S.$27,000. This confession is reportedly confirmed by another terrorist suspect Bashir bin Lap, known as Lillie, who has likewise been arrested and is under Washington's custody.

Hambali was reportedly given by al-Qaeda U.S.$30,000 to fund the bombing of two joints in Bali, Indonesia where 202 were killed. Pleased with the bombing, al-Qaeda allegedly sent U.S.$100,000 more.

Of the amount, U.S.$45,000 was allocated to Jemaah Islamiyah in Indonesia and U.S.$15,000 was earmarked to support the families of the jailed Bali plotters while U.S.$30,000 was to be used for more "terrorist attacks".

According to Time, Lillie confessed that their MILF contact “reported by e-mail that the money would be spent on ‘cars and motorcycles,’ which were codes, Lillie indicated, for M-16s and pistols.”

Time added that intelligence officials in the region say Jemaah Islamiyah operatives undergo training MILF-protected camps. It had been confirmed by Hambali, reported the Time.

Meanwhile, MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ibrahim recently assailed renewed efforts to link their group to terrorist organizations.

“The renewed effort to link the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) with so-called terrorist groups is an unfortunate frame of mind apparently designed to complicate the peace process that is in progress under the auspices of the Government of Malaysia and Libya,” he said in a press release dated October 3.

“So the people may know, the nuances of terror label shall continue to derail our long quest for peace, freedom and justice if we remain silent of the turn of event that saddles our way for a political solution to the armed conflicts and the Bangsamoro problem.”

Murad reiterated their stand against terrorism as a means to achieve political objective as contained in a policy statement issued by their late leader Salamat Hashim in June 29, 2003.

Hashim then said, “There can be no more strong ground for MILF to condemn terrorism than that it is anathema to the teachings of Islam. To stress seriously this point, I hereby reiterate our condemnation and abhorrence of terrorist tendencies in order to eschew the reverse side of the language of endemic state violence.

"Consequently, we reject and deny any link with terrorist organizations or activities in this part of the Asian region, particularly in South Philippines, and elsewhere in the World.”

Murad’s statement came after U.S. Ambassador to Manila Francis Ricciardone said on October 1 that the U.S. government would not release the funds it has promised to give to Mindanao even if a peace accord is inked between the MILF and the Philippine government if MILF does not cut its ties with the “outlaws and terrorists.”

Ricciardone also said they are concerned with the “continued presence” of the Jemaah Islamiyah in Mindanao, a group it has recently re-listed as a “foreign terrorist group” that is linked with al-Qaeda.

The MILF has waged a decades-long war for its territory in the southern Philippines, which it said was illegally annexed by the Spanish and American colonizers to the Philippine territory.

The group is due to resume a formal peace negotiation with the Philippine government within the month through the help of the governments of Malaysia and Libya.