Philippine police arrest Muslim bombing suspect


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Monday January 8, 2007

Manila- Philippine police arrested a radical Muslim convert
suspected to be involved in the bombing of a passenger bus that
killed three people in the capital two years ago, an official said
Monday.
Chief Superintendent Romeo Ricardo said Abdul Kareem Ayeras was
arrested last week at his hideout in Tagkawayan town in Quezon
province, 135 kilometres south-east of Manila.

Ricardo said Ayeras, a member of the militant group of Islamic
converts called Rajah Sulaiman Movement, was being hunted for his
involvement in the bomb attack of a passenger bus in Makati City on
February 14, 2005.

The bombing in Makati occurred almost simultaneously with two
other bomb attacks in the southern cities of Davao and General
Santos, which killed six people and injured more than 100 others.

Ricardo said the arrest of Ayeras was part of nationwide security
operations aimed at securing the Association of South-East Asian
Nations and the East Asian summits later in the week. Sixteen heads
of states are attending the summits in the central province of Cebu.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency