Senior Terrorist Captured in Philippines

(Manila) Good news! Filipino authorities made a major arrest yesterday. Abu Sayyaf member Sharie Amiruddin, aka Abu Omar, is linked to al-Qaeda and the southeast Asian terrorist network, Jemaah Islamiah.

From ABS-CBNNews.com:

The military arrested a suspected Abu Sayyaf member linked to kidnappings and bombings that has killed Americans and Filipinos since 2000, an Army spokesman said Tuesday.

Maj. Bartolome Bacarro said soldiers seized Sharie Amiruddin, a suspected member of the Abu Sayyaf group, on Monday in Zamboanga City.

"He was the planner of the Dos Palmas kidnapping," Bacarro told reporters, adding Amiruddin was also blamed for bomb attacks in three Mindanao cities in 2002.

As a reminder, the Dos Palmas kidnappings occurred on Palawan Island in 2001 and involved 20 people, including three Americans of which one, Guillermo Sobero, was beheaded. During a rescue mission in 2002, another American, Martin Burnham, was killed and his wife, Gracia, was wounded. They were Christian missionaries. The other hostages were Filipino tourists.

It's worth noting that the Philippine government appears to be quite determined and aggressive in its pursuit of terrorist cells and criminals in the country.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.