abu-sayyaf

Abu Sayyaf Group

(ASG/ Al-Harakat al-Islamiyya)

Description/History:

Founded in 1991 as a radical offshoot of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), this small militaristic separatist group is intent on the creation of an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines. The group is unsatisfied with Manila's 1989 formation of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), instead seeking total secession from the Philippines. The ASG aims to expand this territory to include all areas with current Muslim majorities, primarily more of the island of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, which is deemed the historic homeland of the Moro people.

The Abu Sayyaf Group was led by Abdurajak Janjalani until his death in 1998 in a firefight with Philippine forces. Command then passed on to his younger brother, Khadafy Janjalani, who was killed in 2006. Deemed a "Foreign Terrorist Organization" by the US Department of State, the US has assisted Philippine forces in killing or capturing top leaders, and continues to provide counterterror training. While this has reduced the group to only a couple of hundred members, the group remains formidable and violently active in the region.

There are ties between Abu Sayyaf and both Jemaah Islamiyah and Al Qaeda. In addition to material support from these groups, some ASG members have formed connections with extremists in the Middle East and trained in Afghanistan with other terrorist groups, such as Al Qaeda and the Tamil Tigers.

Activities:

ASG attacks have included bombings of malls, bus stations and an airport, as well as the destruction of Superferry 14 by a bomb in February of 2004. That attack resulted in 116 casualties in what remains the word's worst terrorist attack at sea. The group frequently kidnaps foreigners for ransom, executing those not redeemed, including journalists, military personnel, and tourists. The group has also committed numerous raids and ambushes, assassination attempts, and killings of civilians, including the targeted murder of non-Muslims. The group regularly clashes with Philippine forces in deadly attacks and firefights and is considered capable of various other types of high-profile attacks.

The collapse of Abu Sayyaf leadership and decreased prominence has perhaps weakened the group's ideological underpinnings, shifting the radical political basis to a justification for violent banditry, including drug smuggling operations.

Location:

The group operates primarily in southern Philippines, particularly in Basilan province and Mindanao, the territory considered Moro homeland and has also expanded into other areas of the Philippines, especially Manila, and even into Malaysia and Indonesia.

Financing:

The Abu Sayyaf Group is primarily financed through kidnapping and extortion. Since 2000, kidnapping has provided a multi-million-dollar income for the ASG. In 2008 alone, the ASG received an estimated $1.5 million in ransoms.

Previously, the ASG received funding from radical Middle Eastern and Asian supporters. The group may have been founded with a considerable financial donation from Al Qaeda via Islamic charities and is believed still linked with Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah. The extent of foreign and Al Qaeda support today is unknown.