MANILA - State prosecutors in the Philippines said today they have filed criminal charges in court against fugitive Indonesian Islamic militant Riduan Isamudin ( photo ) and a Malaysian man detained in Singapore.

The criminal indictment accuses Isamudin, also known as Hambali, and Faiz bin Abu Bakar Bafana of giving money to local Muslim militants to procure explosives used in a series of Manila bombings nearly two years ago that left 22 people dead.

Southeast Asian intelligence officials describe Hambali as the operations chief of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a militant Islamic network that operates across the region and is suspected of being behind the Oct 12 blast in Bali, Indonesia that killed over 190 people.

They say JI is allied to the al Qaeda network of Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, the main suspect in the Sept 11, 2001 attacks in the United States last year.

Faiz was among a group of suspected JI militants who have been rounded up by Singapore in connection with an alleged plot to bomb the US embassy and other targets in the city-state.

High-profile targets

"From what appears on record, Faiz and Hambali conspired in the procurement of explosives not only for use in Singapore against US and Israeli interests but also for the benefit of the MILF," state prosecutor Roberto Lao said, reading from the charge sheet.

The government alleges certain operatives of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's largest Muslim separatist guerrilla group, carried out the Dec 30 bombings of a Manila train, a bus, and several other high-profile targets.

"By dealing in and providing funds for the purchase of explosives, Faiz and Hambali undoubtedly committed the acts complained of," Lao told reporters.

Faiz and Hambali were charged in a lower court in the southern city of General Santos.

A third man, Filipino businessman Antonio Reyes, is to be charged separately in the central city of Cebu, where he allegedly sold 1.2 tonnes of explosives to those who carried out the Manila bombings.

The indictments were based on the depositions given by another Indonesian JI operative, Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, who had earlier been arrested and sentenced to 17 years in jail for possession of explosives.

Al-Ghozi said in a sworn statement that Faiz and Hambali gave him money and ordered him to procure between five and seven tonnes of explosives to be used to bomb the US and Israeli embassies in Singapore.

State witness

Cusain Ramos, a Filipino who confessed to buying explosives from Reyes on Al-Ghozi's behalf, has corroborated the Indonesian convict's testimony.

The government has detained Ramos, also known as Abu Ali, but has decided to use him as state witness in the Hambali case.

The indictments came amid a fresh wave of bombings in the Philippines that has killed 23 people and injured about 200 others this month.

Late Thursday, police seized a package of bomb-making equipment at a bus as it was parked in a depot in Manila.

No one was arrested. AFP