Bin Laden reportedly backed a plot to kill Pope John Paul II during the Pontiff's visit to Manila in 1994, a plan to bomb the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Manila, as well as a plan to kill former President Bill Clinton during a visit to the Philippines in 1995.
Philipine rebel fighters and terrorists with the Abu Sayyaf movement have close ties to al Qaeda and have been trained at bin Laden's camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.