Pope Francis Death Threat News: Philippines Dismisses Alleged Plot To Kill Pontiff During Visit

The Philippines' top defense official dismissed on Monday an alleged plot by an Islamist terrorist group to assassinate Pope Francis during his recent visit to the Philippines, saying the reports were based on "unvalidated" information.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said security forces did not obtain confirmed information about such a plot to kill the highest leader of the Catholic Church, the Philippine Star reported.

"The ones that appeared in newspapers, these are unvalidated reports," Gazmin said.

"In fairness to the one who made the report, perhaps he obtained a report that was not passed on to us or if ever it was passed on to us, it was not verified."

The defense official emphasized that the five-day visit of the pope went smoothly. He added that even if there were threats, "these were addressed at the initial stage."

The Philippine military earlier said it encountered "zero threat" on the Pope.

Jemaah Islamiyah, a terrorist network seeking to create an Islamic state encompassing most of Southeast Asia, was said to have tried to assassinate the Pontiff, according to unnamed sources of the Philippine Star.

The terror plot was said to be "very serious," being supposedly validated by intelligence agents in the region. However, no further details were given.

Another source said one of the Jemaah Islamiyah "sleeper cells" formed to ruin the papal visit was headed by Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir or "Marwan."

According to the source, the Marwan-led group was tasked to bomb the papal convoy as it passed along a street in Manila on Jan. 18 but failed to do so as the huge welcoming crowds prevented group members from approaching the convoy.

The source likewise claimed that the terrorists tried to detonate a bomb while Pope Francis was celebrating mass at the Tacloban City airport, but this did not succeed as well allegedly due to the absence of mobile phone signals and the bad weather caused by a tropical storm.

Authorities, after being alerted of the terrorist plot, jammed mobile phone signals on purpose as mobile phones can be used as triggering devices for bombs.