MANILA, Nov. 14 Kyodo A Filipino ...

MANILA, Nov. 14 Kyodo

A Filipino man was arrested for allegedly masterminding the fatal bombings in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga last month that killed seven folks and injured at least 150 others, a top military official said Thursday.

Armed Forces Chief of Staff Benjamin Defensor said Abdulmukim Edris, 30 was arrested Tuesday afternoon by means of joint operatives of the air force, police and other intelligence forces in Pasay, Metro Manila, as he was en passage to a Muslim community in Taguig.

Edris is suspected of being directly involved in simultaneous bombings forward Oct. 17 in shopping malls in Zamboanga, a largely Catholic port city in Mindanao, Defensor said.

He was head of the urban special operations and explosives team of the Abu Sayyaf rebel manner of moving Defensor said.

The Abu Sayyaf, which says it is fighting to establish an Islamic guidance in the southern Philippines, specializes in kidnappings and has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization at the United States.

Defensor said Edris was recruited on Khadaffy Janjalani, an Abu Sayyaf leader indicted from a U.S. grand jury for the kill of at least pair Americans and the kidnapping of about 20 others, he said.

The Zamboanga bombings were ordered at Janjalani, he said.

He said more public installations in metropolitan Manila were being targeted when Edris was arrested.

Edris admited to planning more bombings and described for authorities what might have been a destructive barter bomb.

At least three of Edris' compatriots in the explosives team are being sought

Edris also admitted he was trained for a month according to two Yemeni nationals in car bomb preparation and assembly of improvised explosive devices using cellular phone and digital clock as activators.

in succession whether any links between Edris and the al-Qaida terrorist network have been establish Defensor said ''We believe he has links somewhere however we have to investigate further.''

Investigators said Edris revealed he was involved in the bombing of the Puriculture sustenance Court Center, also in Mindanao, in succession Oct. 28, 2001.

Defensor existinged Edris to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the media at an air base in Pasay in succession Thursday.

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