Philippines - Security

Abu Sayyaf still Philippines' most brutal terrorist group

13.08.2009

MANILA, Aug 13, 2009 (AFP) - The Abu Sayyaf group, whose members killed more than 20 Philippine troops in a battle this week, is accused of being a brutal terrorist organisation with links to foreign militants, including Al Qaeda.

At least 23 soldiers and 20 Abu Sayyaf rebels were killed when the army raided a training camp run by the group in the southern Philippines, the military said Thursday.

The fighting was the heaviest since at least 29 soldiers were killed in two separate clashes with the Abu Sayyaf in July and August 2007

The group is responsible for the Philippines' worst attacks since the 1990s, when it was formed by Islamic firebrand Abubakar Abdurajak Janjalani upon returning from Afghanistan where he fought Soviet forces alongside Osama bin Laden's forces.

Western intelligence agencies say a brother-in-law of bin Laden provided the seed money to help set up the Abu Sayyaf.

The US State Department has included the group in its list of foreign terrorist organisations, and while many of its key leaders have been either captured or killed in recent years, intelligence officials have admitted it would be next to impossible to totally eradicate its influence.

It was set up supposedly to fight for a Muslim state in the south of this Catholic nation.

But when Janjalani was killed in a shoot-out with police in 1998, the Abu Sayyaf (Bearers of the Sword) quickly degenerated into a terror group with no known ideology.

It has kidnapped dozens of foreign aid workers, missionaries and tourists in the south and was blamed for the country's worst terrorist strike, when it bombed a ferry in 2004 and killed over 100.

By ransoming off its hostages for millions of dollars the group was able to raise funds to buy more arms, and it cemented its brutal reputation by beheading some its captives -- including an American tourist seized in 2002.

"The massive loss on the military side only shows that the Abu Sayyaf has become more entrenched," in the south, Julkipli Wadi, an Islamic studies professor with the University of the Philippines who has closely followed the insurgency, told AFP.

He said massive poverty in the south, and perception of injustice against the minority Muslims made it easy for the Abu Sayyaf to continue with its recruitment efforts.

"These are the issues that help the Abu Sayyaf continue to wreck havoc in the area," he said. "To the young Muslim, they are not terrorists, but a resistance force against any form of subjugation."

Pedro Cabuay, a former general who now heads the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), said the Abu Sayyaf's strength has dropped to only about 300 fighters from a high of about 2,000 in the 1990s.

However, the group is believed to be working with some 30 foreign militants from the Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) known to be in the south, including two bomb experts wanted for the 2002 night club bombings in Bali, Indonesia.

"We cannot completely eradicate (them) at this time," Cabuay said in a recent forum. He however acknowledged that the Abu Sayyaf remains highly capable of carrying out deadly attacks, including bombings.

The Abu Sayyaf came to international attention in April 2000 when the militants raided the Malaysian tourist resort of Sipadan island and took 21 Western and Asian hostages, whom they shipped to Jolo island and ransomed off for millions of dollars after nearly a year in captivity.

A Basilan-based faction raided a western Philippine island resort the following year and abducted a group of tourists including three Americans, two of whom later died in captivity.

After the second kidnapping President Gloria Arroyo accepted an offer by US President George W. Bush to send Special Forces advisers to train Filipino troops in counter-terrorism.

American troops have been in the south since 2003, and their help has led to the deaths of senior Abu Sayyaf leaders even as new ones have emerged.

Intelligence sources say the group is now led by Yasser Igasan, another Afghan veteran they describe as highly intelligent and organised. He is backed up by Albader Parad, who in January led a faction that kidnapped three international Red Cross workers who were subsequently freed unharmed.

©2009 AFP All rights reserved.