THE Islamic State has officially recognized the pledges of allegiance of several jihadist groups based in Mindanao, according to a video recently released by the IS propaganda unit Al-Furat.
Al-Furat released the video two days after United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned of the danger of the Islamic State terror group spreading its tentacles to South and Southeast Asia.
The Al-Furat video featured Abu Sayyaf Group leader Isnilon Hapilon and Malaysian bomb maker Mohamed Najib Hussein, alias Abu Anas al Muhajir, who was killed along with 12 Abu Sayyaf fighters in Al Barka, Basilan last December.
Hussein is believed to have been the leader of the Katibat Ansar al Sharia group that is hiding out with the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan, along with another jihadist group identified only as Katibat Marakah al Ansar.
Another group, identified as Ansar al Khilafah in the Philippines has also pledged allegiance to Baghdadi.
The UN secretary-general himself mentioned the Ansar al-Khilafah in the Philippines in a recent report to the UN Security Council.
“The recent expansion of the ISIL sphere of influence across West and North Africa, the Middle East, and South and South-East Asia demonstrates the speed and scale at which the gravity of the threat has evolved in just 18 months,” Ban said in a report to the UN Security Council.
“Moreover, other terrorist groups, including the Islamic Youth Shura Council and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Libya Province (Derna) in Libya, the Mujahideen of Kairouan and Jund al-Khilafah in Tunisia, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Tehreek-e-Khilafat in Pakistan, and Ansar al-Khilafah in the Philippines, are sufficiently attracted by its underlying ideology to pledge allegiance to its so-called caliphate and self-proclaimed caliph,” Ban said.
In his report, Ban said the IS has also benefited from the arrival of a steady stream of foreign terrorist fighters, who continue to leave their communities to replenish its ranks.
The return of these fighters from the battlefields of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic and other conflict zones is a further major concern, as returnees can extend the presence of ISIL to their states of origin and use their skills and combat experience to recruit additional sympathizers, establish terrorist networks and commit terrorist acts, Ban said.
The report further analyses ISIL’s finances, highlighting the group’s capacity to mobilize vast resources rapidly and effectively.
Its main sources of financing included the exploitation of oil and other natural resources, “taxing,” confiscation and the looting of archaeological sites, as well as external donations and use of the Internet and social media to raise funds.
The report recommends member states to criminalize travel by foreign terrorist fighters, in accordance with relevant resolutions and take measures to strengthen border-management regimes.
The United Nations, for its part, should step up capacity-building assistance in that context, he said, asking member-states to strengthen their tools for disrupting ISIL’s capacity to plan and facilitate attacks.
The online news blog Long War Journal of the US-based Federation to Defend Democracies noted that the official acceptance of the pledges could precede the announcement of an official Islamic State “wilayat,” or province, for the Philippines or the entire Southeast Asian region.
Aside from the ASG and the Katibat Ansar al Sharia group of Hussein, other groups in the region, such as Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid and the Mujahidin Indonesian Timor, have also pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Traditionally, the ASG has had ties to al Qaeda, being financed by Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, a brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US special operations forces in Madagascar in 2006.
In June 2014, a master ASG bomb maker Abdul Basit Usman, who was thought to have been killed in a drone strike in North Waziristan, Pakistan, turned up in the Philippines before being killed last year.
http://manilastandardtoday.com/news/-main-stories/top-stories/199523/is-recognizes-sayyaf-fealty.html
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