IS bares RP pivot

From the Daily Tribune (Jun 26): IS bares RP pivot

The jihadist Islamic State (IS) had advised its followers to troop to the Philippines as a stage of terror operations in Southeast Asia as it created a “province” in Mindanao with Abu Sayyaf Group leader Isnilon Hapilon as emir of the “Islamic State in the Philippines.”

According to the US-based Long War Journal of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies which was an offshoot of the 911 terror attacks in 2001, the IS has officially created a province in the Philippines “after months of buildup which included pledges of loyalty from various local groups.”

A newly released video from the region, which was produced in the same style as all other Islamic State provinces, offered confirmation of the new province, it added.

The video begins by showing several “battalions” of the ASG pledging allegiance to the Islamic State.

The supposed battalions included the Abu Dujana Battalion, Abu Khubaib Battalion, Jundallah Battalion, and the Abu Sadr Battalion.

“These battalions joined others from ASG, including Jund al Tawhid, Ansar al Sharia, and Marakah al Ansar in pledging bayah to the Islamic State. Additionally, some of ASG’s leader, including overall leader Hapilon, have pledged to the jihadist group,” according to the paper.

The video also issued a warning to President-elect Rodrigo Duterte of their potential activities as they have urged their followers to target the Philippines.

The 20-minute video showed a Pilipino-speaking member of IS mentioning Duterte saying that IS followers shouldn’t be cowed by his tactics.

“Take care and be strong, do not be swayed by the deceptive tactics of the newly-elected [President Rodrigo] Duterte. May he be cursed by Allah,” one of the terrorists said in Pilipino.

In the same video which was, according to reports, shot in Syria, Mohd Rafi Udin, a Malaysian IS leader, told their followers and potential recruits to go to the Philippines instead of going to their main jihad front Syria.

“If you cannot go to (Syria), join up and go to the Philippines,” Udin said.

Udin also urged Muslims to unite under the leadership of Hapilon who is also named Abu Abdullah who pledged allegiance to Islamic State in January.

Hapilon is on the FBI’s most wanted list for his role in the kidnapping of 17 Filipinos and three Americans in 2001 and carries a bounty of $5 million.

Last Friday, Duterte in a meeting with Marites Flor, a Filipina held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) terrorists but released early last Friday, said that a day of reckoning is coming under his administraion for the ASG as he will order the launch of military offensives.

“To my Moro brethren I do not want to fight with anybody, but there will be a time that I have to go after Abu Sayyaf,” Duterte said.

“Kidnapping must stop. It has given us a bad image,” he emphasized.

State security forces, in previous reports, consistently dismiss such threats as mere propaganda from the Islamic radicals.

Hapilon was declard by the IS as the leader of all of its forces in the Philippines.

“In an April issue of the Islamic State’s weekly newsletter Al Naba, the jihadist group said that Hapilon had been appointed as emir. In a portion of the video featuring a Filipino fighter in Raqqah, Syria, he confirms the Al Naba report,” the US paper said.

Hapilon is the senior most figure to have joined the IS. The video also confirms that a formal leadership structure for the Islamic State has indeed been put into place, exemplifying its expansion in the country. “This was also seen earlier this month in an infographic released by the ‘Amaq News Agency, one of the jihadist group’s news outlets. The infographic included several important facts from the Islamic State in the Philippines, including the number of groups that have pledged allegiance and where they operate,” long War Journal said

“While the infographic contains numbers from April 2015, it also notes the first official announcement of Filipino jihadist groups pledging allegiance to the Islamic State occurred in January 2016. Videos and reports of groups pledging bayah have emerged since 2014, shortly after Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, claimed the creation of a caliphate,” it added.

The video in January, however, was the first time the Islamic State publicly accepted these pledges. A month later, the Islamic State’s Furat media outlet released another video showing more groups pledging allegiance.

IS groups include BIFF

These groups include the ASG battalions, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)-breakaway group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), Ansar Khilafah in the Philippines, the Islamic State in Lanao, Jamaat al Tawhid wal Jihad (a group formerly loyal to al Qaeda), and parts of the MILF itself.

“Their claimed areas of operation largely correspond with the reported areas of the aforementioned groups. This includes the southern areas of Basilan, South Cotabato, Sulu, Sarangani, Lanao del Sur, and the northern province of Isabela,” according to the report.

The report said several of these groups, including Ansar Khilafah, the Islamic State in Lanao, and the Jamaat al Tawhid wal Jihad (JTJ) have publicized training camps in the region.

“Ansar Khilafah was the first to do so last December, while the latter two groups did so last month and in March, respectively. A video from JTJ’s training camp, the “Osama bin Laden training camp,” also publicized its loyalty to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi,” it added.

In addition to the pledges to the Islamic State in the months building up to yesterday’s video, the Islamic State has claimed several attacks in the Philippines in recent months, it said.

It added that one of these attacks was featured in the video, which showed IS fighters engaging in a firefight with Filipino security forces.

“Several vehicles and weapons are shown to have been captured by the jihadists. Additionally, the video pays tribute to several fighters who have been killed in clashes with the Filipino military. This includes Abu Khattab, a Moroccan bomb expert within ASG, who was killed in April,” it added.

While the video was made to announce a Philippines province, a good portion of the video was filmed in Syria.

Indonesian, Malaysian, and Filipino fighters in Syria’s Raqqah province are shown discussing these pledges and encouraging others to follow suit in Southeast Asia. “The three are later shown simultaneously beheading three Assad regime soldiers somewhere in Raqqah,” the report said.

The Islamic State has also inroads in the wider Southeast Asia region, an area that has historically featured al Qaeda activity.

“Jemaah Islamiyyah (JI), al Qaeda’s historical branch in Southeast Asia, has also suffered defections to the Islamic State. Shortly after Baghdadi’s announcement of the caliphate in 2014,  Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader and co-founder of JI as well as the emir of its offshoot Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid, pledged allegiance to Baghdadi,” it added.

“However, Bashir’s two sons and several other leaders left and formed their own group, Jemaah Ansharusy Syariah. According to the Jakarta Post, more than 50 percent of Bashir’s followers abandoned him and joined Jemaah Ansharusy Syariah. It is directly part of al Qaeda’s global network now, according to its leader,” the report said. (See LWJ report, Islamic State launches suicide assault in Indonesia’s capital.)

Yet another group in region, Mujahideen Indonesion Timor (MIT), is also loyal to the Islamic State. Abu Warda Santoso, the MIT leader, swore allegiance to the Islamic State in 2014, it said.

It added his group was previously listed by the US as a terrorist group last year. Last month, the US Department of State added Santoso to its list of global terrorists, it added.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/is-bares-rp-pivot