Posted on 03/09/2003 3:33:15 AM PST by sarcasm
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine prosecutors have filed murder charges against the leader of the country's biggest Muslim rebel group and 150 of his fighters over a deadly bombing at a southern airport, officials said on Sunday.
Acting chief prosecutor Danilo Belo of Davao city, where 21 people were killed on Tuesday, said he expected the court to issue arrest warrants for rebel chairman Hashim Salamat and the others by Wednesday, after reviewing the evidence.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has denied any role in the worst terror attack in the mainly Roman Catholic country for more than two years.
``Charges of multiple murder have been filed in court against Salamat and others,'' Belo told Reuters by telephone. ``By their concerted action, they committed these acts against innocent civilians.''
The charges carry a maximum penalty of death by lethal injection, although it is not clear whether police will be able to track down and capture the elusive Salamat and other leaders of an estimated 12,000 heavily armed guerrillas.
The MILF's military chief Al Haj Murad, political chief Ghazali Jaafar and spokesman Eid Kabalu were among the rebels charged with murder, Belo said.
``We will not allow ourselves to be just picked up, especially in connection with these baseless charges,'' Kabalu told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
``Before they can get to the chairman, they will have to go through many obstacles. Our men will not allow it.''
The MILF is the biggest of four groups fighting for an Islamic state in the southern Philippines. One band, the Abu Sayyaf, is blacklisted by the United States as a terrorist organization with links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
BOMB IN BACKPACK PUT UNDER BENCH
The explosion at Davao airport ripped into scores of people huddled in a shelter as they waited for arriving passengers during a rain storm. An American missionary and the suspected bomber were among those killed.
Belo conceded it would be difficult to serve the arrest warrants ``because the whereabouts of the accused are unknown.''
He said, ``We also don't know if any of them has left the country. Besides, considering their personalities, we know that they have their own security force.''
Only two of the accused, both alleged MILF members, are in custody, he said.
``Part of the police evidence was testimony from a witness who said he saw (the bomber) carrying a backpack containing the explosives and then he put it down under a bench,'' Belo said. ``It exploded while he was leaving the place.''
One of the detained men said there was ``no truth to their allegation'' as he was led away from the prosecutors' office in handcuffs on Friday.
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