Beach resort proves an idyll for tourists and terrorists alike

A newly uncovered plot by Islamic militants to bomb Manila's oil depot, foreign embassies and shopping malls has once more focused attention on the sleepy coastal city of Talisay.

To tourists, Talisay - a half-hour ride by car from booming Cebu City in the central Philippines - is known for beach resorts.

But to dynamite fishermen and an increasing number of Muslim mujahedeen, it is an easy source of blasting caps, or detonators, as well as ammonium nitrate used in explosives.

Environmental lawyer Antonio Oposa said yesterday: 'We have reports that blasting caps from Talisay are being exported to Sulawesi in Indonesia.'

He said these were mainly used for dynamite fishing, which Filipino fishermen had taught their Indonesian counterparts.

But he warned authorities that the lethal devices and explosive materials were also falling into the hands of terrorist groups such as the southern Philippine-based Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) network, which operates across Southeast Asia.