Islamic State’s baby brother, Abu Sayyaf, establishing control over southern Philippines

From News.com.au (Apr 1): Islamic State’s baby brother, Abu Sayyaf, establishing control over southern Philippines



The tiny island of Jolo, in the Philippines, is home to Abu Sayyaf, a terror group that took 10 new hostages this month and names Islamic State its philosophical leader. Picture: US Navy

THE islands around the southern Philippines are home to beautiful white sand beaches, turquoise waters and friendly locals.
 

They are an inviting travel destination for Australians but there’s a reason the government doesn’t want its citizens going there.

In 2011, Aussie Warren Richard Rodwell was kidnapped and taken by boat to a group of islands where kidnap-for-ransom is a way of life. He was held there for 15 months before finally being released.

In 2014, a pair of German seniors holidaying on their yacht were kidnapped by men affiliated with the same group and making the same demands. They were photographed kneeling in front of masked men wielding machetes and automatic weapons.

Last year, four people — two Canadian men, a Norwegian man and a Filipino woman — were kidnapped by men posing as tourists at a popular holiday spot. Six months on they are still being held hostage.

Later, the group behind all the attacks beheaded a Malaysian hostage whose severed head was found in a sack by a cleaner outside a local government office.

Last week, the group was at it again. Ten Indonesian men working on a tugboat carrying coal had their vessel hijacked at gun point and were again taken to the lawless southern Philippines.

Those responsible have a simple goal: to fund a fight for an independent Islamic province.

If it sounds like Islamic State, it’s because it is. More specifically, it’s Islamic State’s baby brother.



Lampinigan Beach in Basilan Province is home to ISIL’s ‘baby brother’, terror group Abu Sayyaf. Picture: Kurtzky/Dreamstime.com

KIDNAPPING IS THEIR MODUS OPERANDI’

Twelve years ago, when a ferry carrying more than 100 people blew up, Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility.

The bombing was the worst act of terror in Philippines’ history and it served to put the terror group on the map. Those behind the bombing have been fighting for relevance ever since.

For months at a time the group goes unnoticed, carrying out its business on a restricted chain of islands including Basilan, Jolo and Tawi-Tawi. Then it takes hostages and the negotiating process starts all over again.

Since it first appeared in the early 1990s, Abu Sayyaf linked itself to al-Qaeda. Last year, when its leader swore an oath of loyalty to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group’s allegiances changed again.

Professor Mark Turner from the University of NSW, Canberra, says the group’s ideologies often change. He says it’s difficult to know who is in charge or what the group stands for.

“In the ‘90s ... the group was religiously motivated and interested in creating a caliphate,” Prof Turner told news.com.au.



Suspected Abu Sayyaf leader Imran Daiyong Mijal pictured in January last year receiving treatment. He was wounded while resisting capture in Basilan, Philippines. Picture: Richard Falcatan/Anadolu AgencySource:AFP

“They appeared to be setting up this Islamic state but their purpose became gradually less and less clear. In the early days there were a few bombs, then they became infamous for kidnapping people.”

He said Abu Sayyaf’s main goal is to make money and therefore those who are kidnapped are often released when terms of ransom are met. Occasionally, as was the case last year, a hostage is violently executed.

“What you get nowadays is a group which has people in leadership positions who want to go on a jihad and have strong feelings about Islamic State and then you have people who are really just bandits.

“It’s a mixture of people with different motivations (and that’s why) there’s no coherent statement anywhere on the group’s philosophy or aims or objectives.”

He said he was hopeful of a good outcome for the 10 Indonesians captured by the group last week but knew it could take some time.

“The negotiations normally involve an initial price asked by Abu Sayyaf that is massive and is then negotiated down. There’s all sorts of lack of clarity on what the eventually settlement is, it’s very unclear,” Prof Turner said.

“I think you would always have hope that (the Indonesians) will be released but they can be protracted kidnappings.”


Warren Rodwell was captured in the Philippines in 2011 before being held for 15 months. Source:AFP

‘TO MY FAMILY, PLEASE DO WHATEVER THEY ASK’

Warren Rodwell, a former Australian Army soldier, was kept in the jungle in captivity for 15 months.
His captors filmed him in proof-of-life videos to be sent to his wife and family. In the videos, Mr Rodwell is seen begging for his life and looking frail and thin.

“To my family, please do whatever to raise the $US2 million they are asking for my release as soon as possible,” he said in one video.

The then-53-year-old was eventually freed at a cost estimated to be just shy of $100,000.
Australian Foreign Minister at the time, Bob Carr, called his release “great news for the Mr Rodwell’s family”.
“(They have) shown enormous courage throughout this ordeal,” Mr Carr said.

A military spokesman in the southern Philippines said Mr Rodwell looked “very thin” but was fine when he was found wandering around a coastal town unsure of his whereabouts.

Mr Rodwell’s family said he was “delighted to be free ... has however lost a lot of weight and is exhausted”.

His sister Denise Capello and brother Wayne Rodwell flew to Manila to search for answers and to demand those who put their sibling through hell be held accountable.

“We hope they are brought to justice so others don’t have to experience what Warren has just been through.”

More than three years later, the group is still putting families through a similar experience. The Australian government, along with governments from the US and the UK, designated Abu Sayyaf a terror group and a target of America’s so-called War of Terrorism. But aside from that there’s little outside governments can do.

Prof Turner said the islands Abu Sayyaf operate in were largely “lawless” and governed by their own sets of rules.

“You have a lot of guns there as well, a lot of armed groups,” he said. “In general you have a lot of people with guns. You’ve got a heavily militarised area with a lot of people where violence erupts on a fairly regular basis.”

The families of the 10 hostages have been contacted by people claiming to be from Abu Sayyaf. If history is anything to go by, they will all likely be released unharmed.

But that result could come at a cost and it could take years to achieve.
http://www.news.com.au/world/pacific/islamic-states-baby-brother-abu-sayyaf-establishing-control-over-southern-philippines/news-story/04fb67f645fd5192d516ecd492c5a3a5