The [1] jihadis in the Philipines lose a battle. (from [2] The Times of London )

The Philippines Government claimed an important victory in its long-running battle against Islamic terrorism today, with the seizure of a large cache of explosives and the arrest of four men suspected of links with al-Qaeda.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who faces re-election in May, claimed that the suspects were planning an atrocity on the scale of the train bombings in Madrid which killed 190 people three weeks ago.

Among those arrested was a man alleged to have decapitated a kidnapped American tourist two years ago, and another said to have confessed to the sinking last month of a ferry in which more than 100 people died.