KUALA LUMPUR Nov 24 (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Malaysian police on Saturday arrested a fugitive Philippine Muslim leader, whom Manila blames for an uprising in which 160 people were killed this week.
Nur Misuari, who heads the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in the southern Philippines, had been on the run since fighting broke out between 600 rebels and 7,000 army troops on Jolo island last Monday.
Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai said Misuari and six followers were captured at 3.30 a.m. on Saturday (2:30 p.m. EST Friday) on Pulau Jampiras in Malaysia's Sabah state.
The place where he was arrested was suspected of having been used as an MNLF training camp in the past, residents of the area on the northern tip of Borneo told Reuters.
Misuari's band entered Malaysia illegally and though unarmed when they were arrested they were regarded as a security threat, the police chief said.
``We have cause for concern over the danger posed to national security...there is cooperation between the Misuari group and the Abu Sayyaf,'' Norian was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.
Abu Sayyaf is another Muslim group fighting for a separate Islamic state in the south of the predominantly Catholic Philippines.
Its main strategy is kidnap for ransom but the United States says Abu Sayyaf has had links in the past with Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda militant network, the group suspected of being behind the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York.