A screenshot of a video showing militant criminal group Abu Sayyaf. (image credit: Abu Sayyaf)
A Filipino group calling itself “Abu Sayyaf” released a disturbing video today showing three hostages who it says it will murder by June 13 if its demands are not met.
But who are Abu Sayyaf, and what do they want? Here are a few facts.
The group is more criminal than Islamic
Abu Sayyaf purports to be Islamic, they seem much more focused on earning money through kidnappings than they do on following the Koran. Abu Sayyaf has been kidnapping foreign travelers in the Philippines for over 15 years, but just pledged allegiance to Daesh last year.
Local security experts told the Telegraph that the local economy of the Sulu archipelago, where the group flourishes, is so dependant on “the kidnap business” that it’s become “an engrained way of life.”
Before pledging allegiance to Daesh, Abu Sayyaf was affiliated with Al Qaeda, as news reports from recent years show.
They appear to have grown in size
The BBC reported earlier this month that Abu Sayyaf “is believed to have only a few hundred armed followers” but in a video released Saturday by the group, Canadian hostage Robert Hall said he and his fellow hostages “have a hundred people around us all the time” that “dictate to us and talk to us like children.”
BBC notes that despite the group’s relatively small size, that it has managed nevertheless to survive an offensive directed against it by the Philippines national army, who have been helped by US troops and military expertise in the fight to “neutralize” the gang.
They have a taste for targeting tourists
Abu Sayyaf appears to have taken a liking to kidnapping travelers.
Last month, the group beheaded a Canadian consultant named John Ridsdel who they had held hostage since September. In 2011, they kidnapped a 14-year-old American, who later escaped. In 2001, they kidnapped and beheaded a California resident who was on vacation with his Filipina girlfriend. The next year, Graham Burnham, a missionary who’d been abducted with his wife, was killed during an army raid to free them.
The US State Department warns against all non-essential travel to the Sulu archipelago, where the group is active.
The US State Department warns against all non-essential travel to the Sulu archipelago, where the group is active.
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