From New Dehli Times (Jul 13, 2020): Augmenting threats of Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in the Philippines (By NDT Bureau)
The ASG is the most violent of the Islamic separatist groups operating in the southern Philippines and claims to promote an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago.
The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) is an Islamic separatist organization in the Philippines founded by Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani in 1991. Heavily influenced by Al Qaeda in its early stages, the ASG started as a splinter group of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). The ASG is the most violent of the Islamic separatist groups operating in the southern Philippines and claims to promote an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. The ASG membership consists primarily of young Tausug Filipino Muslims from the Sulu Archipelago, south of Mindanao. The ASG attracts poverty-stricken unemployed young Muslims in the southern Philippines.
Significant attacks which have been claimed by, or reliably attributed to the ASG include kidnapping of 20 people from the Philippine tourist resort of Dos Palmas on the Palawan Island on May 27, 2001; bombing of a karaoke bar in Zamboanga City on October 2, 2002; killing four people, including a US soldier and injuring 24 other; bombing of Superferry 14 in Manila Bay on February 27, 2004, which is estimated to have killed over 100 people; bombing of a convenience store in Jolo on March 27, 2006 killing nine and wounding 24 when extortion demands were not met; kidnapping of seven workers who were subsequently beheaded when a ransom wasn’t paid in April 2007, etc.
From 2007 onward, the ASG has mainly engaged in kidnapping activities, often threatening to behead hostages unless a ransom is paid. Most kidnapping victims are Filipinos, although the ASG also targets foreigners in the southern Philippines, including tourists at resorts and foreign worker. In January 2009, the ASG kidnapped three International Red Cross workers in the Sulu province, holding one of the hostages for six months. In March 2013, the ASG released an Australian citizen the group had held hostage for fifteen months. The ASG has also established criminal links and collaborates with criminal groups in kidnapping incidents. Criminal groups have executed kidnappings and handed hostages over to the ASG for a share of the ransom.
The ASG also has nominal links to the Islamic State (IS). The first known instance of Filipino’s support on social media for the ISIS was posted on July 2, 2014. It showed Filipinos in prison, many of whom were members or former members of the Abu Sayyaf, gathering around a black flag and swearing allegiance to the ISIS. These linkages have likely continued till this date. An Indonesian couple carried out a complex suicide attack during Mass at the Jolo Cathedral in Sulu on January 27, 2019, killing 23 people and wounding 102. Philippine officials linked the plot to the ASG and ISIS, both of which claimed responsibility for the bombing.
The Philippine government policy has been to apply military pressure on Abu Sayyaf. On June 27, 2020, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said that it has so far killed 28 Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) terrorists and forced the surrender of 29 and arrested four others during intense military operations from January 1 to June 18 this year. “The success of our operations against the Abu Sayyaf Group can be attributed to the strong support of the national leadership, interagency cooperation, and the soldiers’ high state of morale. The AFP will sustain this momentum against the terror group so that once and for all, peace and development will be genuinely felt by our people,” AFP Chief-of-Staff, General Felimon T. Santos Jr. said.
On June 26, 2020, four alleged Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) members were killed in a police raid at Don Bosco district in Parañaque City. According to police reports, Merhama Abdul Sawari, who was killed along with her husband, had a “connection” to ASG sub-Commander Mundi Sawadjaan, a nephew of Islamic State Philippine leader Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan. Sawari is also reportedly known through open sources to have received remittances from Yoga Febrianto, a member of the Indonesian terrorist group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD). Before his arrest in Sabah, Malaysia, in June 2019, Febrianto served as JAD’s liaison to the Islamic State in the Philippines, and was tasked with moving funds, fighters, and weapons. He was also one of the plotters, alongside Mundi Sawadjaan, in the January 2019 Jolo Cathedral Bombing.
Two black Islamic State flags, grenades, an assault rifle and bomb-making materials were recovered during the raid, showing that the pandemic has not stopped the group from plotting future attacks. Authorities said the suspects were planning to stage a terrorist attack in the country.
Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief-of-Staff Felimon Santos Jr. said the neutralization of the suspects and the discovery of the supposed terrorist attack plan “proves that terrorist groups know no pandemic or people’s suffering in the Philippines or elsewhere in the world”.
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