Philippines ‘breeding ground for terrorists,’ says US plot suspect

A Filipino suspect in a foiled terrorist plot targeting New York City had boasted that his country was “a breeding ground for terrorists”, the US justice department said.

Russell Salic – a doctor who treated pro-ISIL militants in the Philippines – and two others have been charged with involvement in the plan to carry out the attacks in the name of ISIL last year.

On Saturday, the justice department claimed that Mr Salic, 37, transferred money to the other suspects for the operation, saying he could safely do this from the Philippines without attracting attention.

Several locations including New York’s subway, Times Square and some concert venues were identified as targets in a plot that was thwarted by an undercover FBI agent, US authorities said on Friday.

The agent posed as an ISIL supporter and communicated with Mr Salic and his two alleged accomplices, Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, a 19-year-old Canadian who it is claimed bought bomb-making materials, and Talha Haroon, 19, an American citizen living in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the Philippines military said that Mr Salic had links to the Maute Group, which since May has occupied parts of Marawi, the country’s most important Islamic city, in an attempt to establish a caliphate in South-East Asia.

“He was among those who were treating wounded members of the Maute Group,” military spokesman Col Edgard Arevalo said.

Maj Gen Restituto Padilla, said Mr Salic had performed these tasks on visits to Maute training camps before the Marawi attack.

“That’s why his nom de guerre or nickname, based on our information, was ‘Doc’ or ‘Doctor’,” Gen Padilla said.

Mr Salic was arrested in the Philippines in April.

The largely Roman Catholic Philippines has been struggling for years with armed insurgencies arising from the Muslim minority in the country’s troubled south.

Various Muslim militant groups have publicly pledged allegiance to ISIL. Armed militants flying the black ISIL flag have besieged Marawi since May, leaving at least 955 people dead.

The fighting, which is continuing despite the Philippine military using artillery, air strikes and US military assistance, has left the once-thriving city in ruins, with thousands of civilians displaced by the clashes.