Philippines get wrong Abu Sayyaf man

Gumbahale (L) was proudly paraded before the press

Philippines police have admitted that the Abu Sayyaf member they captured last week was not the senior leader they first thought.

It turns out we are talking of two different people

Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal

Police and Philippines President Gloria Arroyo had paraded Mark Bolkerin Gumbahale before the media on Saturday, praising his arrest as a major victory in Manila's battle against the Muslim extremist group.

But the head of the country's police intelligence said on Tuesday that Mr Gumbahale had been confused with a higher ranking man because the men use the same alias: Dr Abu, or Abu Pula.

"It turns out we are talking of two different people and we already apologised for that mistake," Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal told The Associated Press.

The man the police had thought Mr Gumbahale to be, Umbra Jumdail, carries a 5 million-peso ($100,000) bounty on his head, whereas a reward of only 150,000 pesos ($2,820) had been offered for Mr Gumbahale.

Foot soldier not planner

Mr Caringal said Mr Gumbahale has admitted taking part in the kidnapping of 21 mostly foreign tourists and workers from Malaysia's Sipadan dive resort in 2000 and a wave of bombings in Manila also in that year.

But the police intelligence officer admitted that Mr Gumbahale was only an "implementer" rather than the planner Umbra Jumdail is thought to be.

Abu Sayyaf are blamed for many attacks in the south, such as a Zamboanga bomb

Police said that Mr Gumbahale had admitted taking part in the beheadings of at least two hostages who could not pay ransoms and of nine captured soldiers, though he claimed he was acting on orders from other leaders.

Abu Sayyaf is notorious for kidnapping foreigners and Christians in the southern Philippines and holding them for hefty ransoms.

There have been claims that the group is linked to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda and US troops have held exercises to train Philippines soldiers to help combat the threat.

The rebels, who say they want an independent Islamic state, are mainly active in the southern Philippines but they are also blamed for attacks elsewhere, including Friday's bus bombing in the capital, Manila.

Two people died in that blast - the second deadly bombing in two days and the fourth in two weeks.

The three other suspected Abu Sayyaf members shown to the media on Saturday are accused of planting a bomb at a busy bus station in Kidapawan City in the southern Philippines last week.

Six people were killed in that blast.