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August 3, 2006
Philippines: Fighting With Islamists Intensifies
We reported on August 1 that the hideout of Islamist terror group Abu Sayyaf had been bombed, leading to fighting. The hideout was in the mountains in the south of Jolo island in Sulu province in the southwestern Philippines. After the bombing raid there clashes with Philippines military, who had promised to "finish them off."
Since then, the fighting has worsened. Reports are found in ABS-CBN, the Zamboanga Sun Star, Manila Times and again in the Sun Star.
On Tuesday night (August 1), fighting erupted again in the hinterland of Indanan town, near where the rebel base had been hit, and continued again on Wednesday. About 300 to 500 people consequently fled from two villages to avoid the fighting. The insurgency is believed to be mounted by Abu Sulayman and Albader Parad, two Abu Sayyaf leaders. Three Islamists were killed and eight injured in the fighting. A number of Abu Sayyaf leaders were said to be cornered in Indanan town. Five soldiers were reported injured.
Khadaffy Janjalani, who is the overall leader of Abu Sayyaf, is also being hunted. He has a $10 million bounty on his head from the US. Major General Gabriel Habacon, head of the Southern Command, said: "The Southern Command has already designed an extensive offensive plot for the capture of these elements to prevent them from performing terrorist activities and permanently disperse them in the region. We have been planning and working for months to find and track the terrorist leadership and the time is now."
In November and again in January, the Liguasan marsh, main center of Abu Sayyaf on the large island of Mindanao was bombed. Two wanted Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorists, assumed to have helped organise the bombings on Bali in October 2002, were thought to have been in the marshes, where they had been sheltered by a hardline member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Following the January attack, Dulmatin and Umar Patek of JI, as well as Abu Sayyaf members and leaders, are thought to have fled to Jolo. MILF representatives, who are currently negotiating a lengthy peace process with the Filipino government, brokered by Malaysia, have said they will investigate the claims that the JI terrorists were sheltered by one of their number.
Indanan is a centre of operations of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), who officially signed a peace accord with the Philippines on August 30, 1996. However in 2001, a group of MNLF rebels, led by the MNLF leader Nur Misauri, attacked an army base on Jolo in 2001, killing 100 people. Again last year, there was an insurgency on Jolo, led by MNLF rebels which began on November 11 and ended in January following a peace deal. This had been brokered by Nur Misauri, who is currently in prison.
The MNLF has assured the military that it will not provide sanctuary to terrorists.
The US has soldiers based on Jolo, who have been training the Philippines army in counter-terrorism operations. They are not involved in the current conflict directly, but they are assisting by providing satellite photographs of the region.
Abu Sayyaf is renowned for its brutal kidnapping campaigns, in which hostages are beheaded to force payments of ransoms. It has had links with JI for some time, as both share the same aims, to establish an Islamist transnational superstate in southeast Asia.
The Jemaah Islamiyah members Dulmatin and Patek, as well as Zulkifli bin Hir and maybe Abdul Rahman Ayub are known to have been training Abu Sayyaf members. In March 2003, Dulmatin is thought to have ordered the bombing of the airport at the southern Mindanao resort of Davao. 19 people were killed, including William Hyde, a US missionary, and 145 people were injured in that blast.
Both Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah are said to have links with Al Qaeda.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 3, 2006 11:26 PM
Comments
The Abu Sayyaf has been much more active in the last year. Several years ago the Philippine army with US assistance had reduced the Abu Sayyaf effective strength to something around 50 fighters. This caused them to withdraw and to become quiet as they rebuilt their strength. Unfortunately this also caused the Philippines government to reduce its vigilance against them.
As the disaffected members of the MNLF had reentered peace talks with the governmnet and the MILF also move forward with its own peace negotiations with the government, the hard core Islamists have left to bolster the strength of the Abu Sayyaf since they were the only ones who still maintain the level of militancy that the Jihadists want.
The Abu Sayyaf has long used kidnapping and extortion as a moneymaking venture (not unlike their Prophet). Because of this they have reserves of funds with which they can buy weapons (often from corrupt members of the Philippines army), and with which to attract new fighters.
The Abu Sayyaf are well positioned to re-emerge as a potent fighting force and they will portray themselves to the hard core extremists that they are the only ones who continue to engage in Jihad against the Philippines government.
The only possible option that the Philippines government can exercise is to redouble their efforts to destroy the Abu Sayyaf cells before they grow too strong, and to try to enlist the MNLF in this campaign.
Posted by: Cadiz ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.westernresistance.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at August 5, 2006 7:14 AM
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