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Abu Sayyaf leader Khadafi Janjalani, second from left,
with Philippine militants, July 2000.
(AP Photo/STR )
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March 5, 2002
Abu Sayyaf, "Bearer of the Sword," is a cross
between a chilling gang of bandits, kidnapping for money
and hijacking religion itself to gain local support,
and a franchise operation of al Qaeda. Since the early
1990s, it has terrorized the southern Philippines with
kidnappings, bombs, and outright massacres; it has also
been linked to several international terrorist plots
and militants.
Abu Sayyaf was founded by Abdurajak Janjalani, an Islamic
scholar and mujahedin in the Afghan-Soviet war, after
he, like the contemporaries that formed his initial
recruiting crop, returned from studies in Saudi Arabia
and Libya determined to fulfill the Muslim ideal of
an Islamic state. The group first mobilized in August
1991, with the bombing of a ship in Zamboanga harbor
and a grenade attack on a performance by Christian missionaries.
Attacks on Catholic congregations — hand grenades
thrown into churches — attacks on ethnic Chinese
and abduction of priests, nuns, and teachers in the
Catholic community soon followed.
Abu Sayyaf's activities were domestic in scope and
remained relatively unknown until it blasted out of
obscurity with the April 23, 2000, kidnapping at Sipadan.
The hostages included several foreigners, and as international
journalists flocked to the area, Abu Sayyaf held groups
of reporters against their will and demanded ransom.
Suddenly, its agenda was thrust onto the world media
stage. From then on, it operated as an organization
with global reach, focusing not only the creation of
an independent Muslim state but the founding of a commission
to improve the plight of ethnic Filipinos in Malaysia
and, eventually, the release of incarcerated World Trade
Center bomber Ramsey Yousef, a group ally who trained
them in explosives.
In its inchoate stages and while under Janjalani's
leadership, Abu Sayyaf was plugged into the international
network of Islamic militants that received the support
of Osama bin Laden. Abu Sayyaf-al Qaeda links are strong.
Many of its fighters claim to have trained in Afghanistan,
including as many as 20 who were in the graduating class
of a Mazar-e Sharif camp in 2001; the titular group
leader, Janjalani's brother, refined his terrorist skills
in Libya. Zamboanga City, a Mindanao Islamic hotbed,
was frequented by members of al Qaeda. Yet the best
indicator of al Qaeda's influence is the relationship
Janjalani forged with Saudi Arabian businessman Mohammed
Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden's brother-in-law. Khalifa's
network of Islamic charities and university in Zamboanga
were both used to bankroll extremists. His main organization,
the International Islamic Relief Organization, has an
office in Zamboanga, as does a bin Laden foundation.
Abu Sayyaf received training and money funneled through
Khalifa's network. It was during this time of close
association with Khalifa and the al Qaeda network that
Abu Sayyaf began plotting its two biggest endeavors
-- assassination of the Pope during a visit to the Catholic
Philippines, and a plan to hijack and blow up 12 U.S.
civilian airliners in a single day. After these plans
were foiled (by an accidental fire in Ramsey Yousef's
apartment), authorities began to see Abu Sayyaf as a
major threat to security in the Philippines -- and as
a true threat to international security.
After Janjalani's death during a police confrontation
in 1998, the glue of Islamic fundamentalism with which
he held the organization together dissolved, and Abu
Sayyaf split into three less-focused splinter groups
and turned mainly to increasingly brutal murders and
kidnappings. After receiving an estimated $25 million
ransom from Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi to free
hostages kidnapped in March 2000 — priests, teachers,
and children from a Basilan school — the militants'
"work" to create a Muslim homeland was thoroughly
corrupted by the financial rewards of ransom. The $25
million was ostensibly a goodwill gesture to release
the hostages, but served only to finance the group's
arms procurement and recruitment. It is also alleged
that some Philippine officials involved in approving
the payment may have received a kickback from the sum.
Speedboats used in other kidnappings were allegedly
bought with the money, as was a rocket launcher that
killed an army captain in pursuit of the fugitives.
Since kidnapping has proven profitable, Abu Sayyaf
has been a group motivated not by ideology but by money.
The character of the group has changed as well —
ad hoc strategies and activities are determined by the
mood swings of individual leaders, many with eccentric
nicknames reflecting bizarre bandit camaraderie. Discipline
is haphazard, and some are addicted to drugs. Still,
about 140 hostages have been taken during their last
two years of violent kidnapping sprees (the number held
for short terms and for smaller ransoms are not included
here; Abu Sayyaf terrorizes the local population with
startling regularity) and 16 people have been killed
over that time. More than 300 Filipino soldiers have
died in the fight to eliminate Abu Sayyaf.
It was estimated at one point that Abu Sayyaf had several
hundred active freedom fighters based on Basilan and
the two smaller neighboring islands of Sulu and Tawi
Tawi. After the sudden influx of Libyan kidnap ransom,
the number probably swelled to around 1,200 young men,
lured mainly by the attractive salary and armaments.
The current strength is widely disputed because of the
group's fragmented state. One faction may only have
as many as 80 committed fighters remaining, but the
strength of both groups together — as well as a
fluid support network — is significantly greater.
There are even allegations that the network's allure
may have infiltrated the military, who, although tasked
with eradication of the group, might have benefited
from allowing escapes and narrow misses.
American military advisors may increase the effectiveness
of what were previously largely unsuccessful military
operations against the group. Eradication, though, is
difficult — Agu Sayyaf's central base is well hidden
in the jungle on Basilan's Mohajid mountain. Measuring
only 20 x 40 miles, it is accessible only by ferry from
the port city of Zamboanga on Mindanao island. Red Cross
workers who have been to this base camp, one of nine
camps in the jungle, say that, surrounded by heavy forest,
it is virtually impenetrable. Group members are undoubtedly
intent to inflict casualties on the American troops
to embarrass the anti-terrorism operation and inspire
other terrorist organizations. Several Abu Sayyaf group
members are accomplished marksmen who can hit targets
over long ranges and through varied weather conditions.
The group still holds captive Filipino nurse Ediborah
Yap and American missionary couple Martin and Gracia
Burnham.
By Emily Clark
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