Report: Alleged Jemaah bomber falls in GenSan

An alleged bomber said to have ties to the Jemaah Islamiyah was arrested in General Santos City before he could stage a bombing attack on a mall there, radio dzBB reported Tuesday. The radio report said Maipasagi Gani was caught with an 81-mm mortar with nails, a rifle grenade and a cell phone to be used as a detonator. Gani claimed he received P2,000 from a certain Basit Agao based in Maguindanao to bring the items, hidden in a backpack, to General Santos City. He said he was instructed to plant the bomb in a shopping mall in the city on Tuesday, to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Earlier, military and police operatives arrested five suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits in the western Philippine province of Palawan, although it remained unclear whether those arrested were about to stage bombing activities in the province. - GMANews.TV