Abu Sayyaf

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The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) (Arabic: جماعة أبو سياف), or simply Abu Sayyaf, also known as Al Harakat Al Islamiyya, is an Islamist terrorist separatist group of based in and around the southern islands of the Philippines, primarily Jolo, Basilan, and Mindanao. Image:AbuSayyaf.jpg

Khadaffy Janjalani is named as the nominal leader of the group by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

It is reported that they recently began expanding into neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia. The group has carried out bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and extortion in their fight for an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago and create an atmosphere conducive to the creation of a Pan-Islamic superstate in the Malay portions of South-east Asia. The name of the group is Arabic for Father (Abu) of the Sword (Sayyaf).

The ASG is the one of the smallest but strongest of the Islamic separatist groups in Mindanao. Some ASG members have allegedly studied or worked in Saudi Arabia and developed ties to mujahadeen while fighting and training in the war against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The Philippine government has claimed the group has ties to Jemaah Islamiyah and al-Qaeda.

A blast at a military base on Jolo island on February 18, 2006 was blamed on Abu Sayyaf by Brig. General Alexander Aleo, an Army officer.[1]

History

Members of the ASG were once part of the Moro National Liberation Front, but started on their own in 1991 under the leadership of Abdurajik Abubakar Janjalani.

Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, both of whom were involved with Operation Bojinka, allegedly took scuba trips to Puerto Galera. The trips may have been a cover for the training of Abu Sayyaf terrorists.

After Ramzi Yousef bombed Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a Japanese passenger, a man stated in a telephone call, "We are [the] Abu Sayyaf Group. We explode[d] one plane from Cebu." The bombing was supposedly a test for Operation Bojinka, which was discovered by Manila police on January 6, 1995.

Abu Sayyaf's first large-scale action was the beachhead assault on the town of Ipil in Mindanao in April 1995. It is responsible for the kidnapping and murder of more than 30 foreigners and Christian clerics and lay-workers, including Martin and Gracia Burnham.

Abdurajik Janjalani was killed in a clash with the Philippine National Police on December 18, 1998. Khaddafy Janjalani, his younger brother, is said to have succeeded him.

The death of Aburajik Abubakar Janjalani, otherwise known as Abu Sayyaf, marked a turning point in ASG operations, shifting from its ideological focus to more general kidnappings, murders and robberies. Image:Robotx1.jpg

The ASG primarily operates in the southern Philippines with members occasionally traveling to Manila, but the group expanded its operations to Malaysia in 2000 when it abducted foreigners from two different resorts. A commander named Abu Sabaya was killed in 2002 while trying to evade forces.[2]. Galib Andang, aka Commander Robot, was captured in Sulu in December 2003.

Abu Sayyaf is estimated to have a core membership of 200 with an extended membership of over 2000. The group was originally not thought to receive funding from any government, but intelligence reports from the United States, Indonesia, and Australia have found intermittent ties to the Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group.ar:مجموعة أبو سياف de:Abu Sayyaf es:Abu Sayyaf fr:Abu Sayyaf id:Abu Sayyaf ia:Abu Sayyaf ja:アブ・サヤフ nl:Abu Sayyaf pl:Grupa Abu Sajjafa fi:Abu Sayyaf zh:阿布沙耶夫