The Philippine military considered the Southeast Asian terror group of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) as a "major terror threat" to the country, a local newspaper reported Thursday.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Narciso Abaya told the Philippine Star that the military has added the JI as a major terror threat to Philippine security "because of a series of evidence that we have gathered and the series of arrests in the past years."

He is referring the arrest of Taufiq Rifqi, an Indonesian suspected of handling finances for JI operatives in the Philippines, in October, 2003.

The chief, who was assessing the security situation in the southern province of Sulu, confirmed that the JI members are stillroaming the country and urged the nation to be on alert against possible attacks.

"The reports about the presence of the JI in the country are true and our forces have been hunting them down," he said.

According to Abaya, one of four JI operatives who arrested lastweek in the southern province of Maguindanao, named Sammy Abdulgani, confessed that they were planning to bomb four shippinglines and other public places, which revealed the latest threat of the Indonesia- based and al-Qaeda-linked terror group.

"This bombing threat is very serious because there are still some members of the JI who remain at large and we are doing something about this for their immediate capture," he said.

In an earlier report, Abdulgani said that one of his IndonesianJI trainers named Usman is moving around the Philippines to continue to supervise and provide funding to JI operations in the country.

The JI also claimed that the rebel group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is holding peace talks with the government, is linked with the JI, which denied by the MILF.

Abaya said that he has also ordered the government troops to intensify operations against the notorious kidnap-for-ransom group Abu Sayyaf.

The JI was blamed for many bombings in the region, including those that killed 202 people in the Indonesian resort island of Bali in October 2002. The Philippine military has been accusing the 12,000-strong MILF of coddling some 30 JI members in its campsin the southern island of Mindanao.

Source: Xinhua