is Osama Bin Laden in Philippines?

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Is Osama Bin Laden in Philippines?

By Shishir Gupta
>From Hindustan times (New Delhi)
March 30, 2000

If Indian intelligence agencies are to be believed, Saudi fugitive and
terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden shifted to Sough-East Asia during the
hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 to Kandahar.

Military intelligence inputs indicate the possibility of Osama Bin Laden
moving to the Philippines while the world focus was on the hijacked
plane at Kandahar airport.

The intelligence community, in fact, is quite convinced that Bin Laden
is not in Afghanistan. However, efforts are being made to corroborate
this vital input with reports that the Saudi fugitive is suffering from
a serious ailment that has affected his kidneys and liver.

Preliminary assessment here is loaded in favour of the possibility that
Bin Laden may have slipped to South-East Asia for medical treatment.

However, the possibility of this being a deliberate misinformation
campaign to shield Osama Bin Laden is not being ruled out. The
information about his serious illness was revealed by an unnamed western
intelligence official to a news agency in Islamabad this month.

Laden faces charges in the United States for allegedly masterminding the
1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that left 224
persons dead and scores injured.

According to military intelligence inputs, Osama Bin Landen has also
reportedly spread his tentacles to Bangladesh where he is allegedly
supporting some extremist group.

This is said to be corroborated by an incident involving Harkat Jihad,
an extremist group financed by Bin Laden.

The group first drew attention in January, when three of its members
allegedly tried to kill a leading Bangladesh poet because of his liberal
beliefs.

At least 18 Harkat members were arrested or detained in connection with
the attack.

Over 500 Bangladeshi youths and 100 Myanmarese Muslims are believed to
be undergoing training in a camp near Dhaka.

The Dhaka connection of Osama Bin Laden goes way back to the 1980s, when
many Bangladeshis joined the terrorist leader in the struggle to oust
the Soviets from Afghanistan.

It is said that the link between many present day terrorist outfits,
particularly those allegedly backed by Bin Laden, is their extremist
ideology and religious beliefs forged during the Afghan war.

It is understood that it was Bin Laden's Bangladeshi-link that forced
the US security officials to abruptly cancel President Bill Clinton's
scheduled trip to Joypura, a village in the rural hinterland.

Intelligence inputs at that time indicated that Islamic militants were
planning to use shoulder-fire missile at the President's helicopter.

Another factor was Bin Laden's statement, faxed to a major media network
in the US, in January that indicated his resolve to unleash a jehad
against "anti-Islamic" forces such as the US, Russia and India.