Article Tools

They’re down but definitely not yet out. The Al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants in southern Philippines continue to sow terror despite losing many of their key leaders who were either killed or captured in recent Philippine military offensives.

Philippine police and US troops inspect the scene of a powerful explosion near a school in the volatile island of Jolo, the capital of Sulu province in the Philippines, on March 10, 2011. The blast, blamed on Abu Sayyaf militants, killed three people and wounded nine others. (AP)

Beset by funding problems, the decimated yet still potent members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in southern Philippines have gone on a kidnapping spree, authorities said on Monday.

Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz, Jr., spokesman of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said armed men believed to be ASG militants on Saturday hijacked a boat in Sulu province and abducted three fishermen on board.

Read more in Asia
« Japanese Journalists Avoided Death at The Last Minute and After It Helped Trapped Citizens
Total Evacuation in Fukushima. Smoke Was Seen From Reactor Three »

Then on Monday, another group of ASG men kidnapped a restaurant worker on Basilan island. The militants fled aboard a jeep which they later burned, regional military spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang said.

Cabangbang identified the head of the ASG band as commander Nurhassan Jamiri, a notorious militant known for bombing civilian targets and beheading captured soldiers and civilians.

In a recent government threat assessment report, Philippine authorities said only 410 ASG fighters remain after the government intensified military operations against the Al Qaida-linked group which has been blacklisted by the United States as a terrorist organization.

Authorities said the government offensives have resulted in the deaths and arrest of the group’s key leaders such as the Janjalani brothers and reduced their capability to sow terror.

Now without a central leader, the remaining bandits have turned to kidnapping even poor Filipinos just to get ransom money to support themselves, the officials said.

Cruz said the ASG took their kidnapped victims to the jungles of Patikul, Sulu and have contacted the management of the fishing company where the victims are employed apparently to demand ransom payment. 

Police Director Felicisimo Khu Jr. said the latest kidnappings and the recent deadly bombing in Sulu showed that the militants remained a potent force despite their many battle setbacks.

He said this also underscored the difficulty of fighting terrorism.

“These people will not hesitate to harm if they’re cornered,” Khu said.

Last year, ASG bandits killed at least six hostages after the latter’s families failed to pay the ransom the militants demanded, officials said.

In 2000, the ASG abducted 21 people, mostly European tourists, from the Malaysian resort of Sipadan. The following year, they seized three Americans and 17 Filipinos from the Dos Palmas resort in the Philippine province of Palawan.

The militants freed the Sipadan hostages apparently after huge ransoms were paid. 

In the Palawan kidnapping, the bandits beheaded one of three American hostages while a second one, Martin Burnham, was killed during an army rescue attempt. The third American, Burnham’s wife Graci was wounded but rescued during a military operation.