ZAMBOANGA CITY, 10 August 2003 — The separatist rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said yesterday that an alleged video tape showing how Indonesian Jemaah Islamiya bomber Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi escaped from a police jail in Manila is now on its way to the Malaysian government and the United States Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

The MILF statement came amid reports that Al-Ghozi was killed with Abu Sayyaf member Abdulmukim Ong Edris and an alleged leader of the separatist group in the southern province of Lanao del Norte.

Al-Ghozi, Edris and another Abu Sayyaf prisoner named Omar Opik Lasal escaped from their prison cell in Camp Crame, the national police headquarters in Quezon City, under suspicious circumstances on July 14.

Last Thursday, Edris and an alleged leader of the MILF named Mahmoud Esmael, were killed by soldiers in the town of Sultan Naga Dimaporo in Lanao del Norte province.

A military report said that the duo were captured at a checkpoint and that they were supposed to lead soldiers to where Al-Ghozi was but when they tried to grab the guns of their escorts, they were shot to death.

According to Inquirer sources, the real story is that Al-Ghozi was killed with Edris and Esmael, and that Malaca?ang Palace was expected to announce the death of Al-Ghozi very soon.

One of the sources claimed that a unnamed diplomat, who knew of the story, was wondering “why there was a delay in announcing Al-Ghozi’s death.”

The Inquirer has also learned that Lasal had been captured but this was being kept under wraps by the military while the manhunt for Al-Ghozi and Edris was launched.

Lanao del Sur Rep. Faysah Dumarpa said she believes Al-Ghozi had been killed with Edris.

“If he had not been killed, the task force headed by PNP (Philippine National Police) chief (Hermogenes) Ebdane would still be in Sultan Naga Dimaporo,” she said.

Lanao del Norte Vice Governor Timoteo Decalos said he had also heard about Al-Ghozi’s death.

In an interview with media earlier in the day, MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu made no mention of Al-Ghozi’s supposed death.

But Kabalu said what they have is the video showing how Al-Ghozi and the Abu Sayyaf militants were deliberately freed from jail inside the headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

He said Al-Ghozi used helicopters to escape from one place to another.

“The tape is now on its way to the Malaysian government and US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. It will show how Al-Ghozi escaped. It [is] one big government scandal,” Kabalu said, quoting an unnamed source, who saw the video.

He said the MILF is awaiting its copy of the video tape. “A big man in the government is the behind Al-Ghozi’s escape,” he said without further elaborating.

Kabalu declined to say who sent the video tape to the Malaysian government and the US Embassy. “All the answers to the escape of Al-Ghozi are on the tape,” he said.

Officials yesterday claimed that Al-Ghozi was still being hunted.

President Arroyo’s adviser for the southern Philippines, Jesus Dureza, said security forces have began a massive search in Lanao del Norte.

Kabalu said tension is running high in the Lanao area because of the military buildup.

“We have forces also in the area and I am afraid that the presence of government soldiers are adding up to the tension in the area,” he said.

The MILF on Saturday protested to the government peace panel the presence of huge number of troops in Lanao provinces, Kabalu said.

“Hostilities would erupt if the military attacks our positions in the guise of pursuing Al-Ghozi and this hostile action against the MILF may threaten the peace talks,” he said.

Peace talks between the government and rebel leaders are set to begin this month in Malaysia, which is mediating the negotiations.