Overview

Abu Sayyaf’s stated objective, when the group was originally founded in the mid-1980s, was the establishment of a separate Bangsamoro homeland.[2] Some U.S. analysts have described Abu Sayyaf as similar to the Taliban with regard to its desire to establish a Muslim homeland. However, the hard-line religious stance of the group is disputed by others.

The origins of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) can be traced back to Afghanistan in the early 1980s where Ustadz Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani emerged as a prominent leader of the several hundred Moro jihadis who came to fight the Soviets. Janjalani was exposed to strict Wahhabism during his training in Khost, Afghanistan, where he was instructed by Abdur Rab Rasul Sayyaf.[3] After returning to the Philippines, Janjalani set about making plans for the remaining Moro jihadis, and recruited many others among disaffected MNLF members. Abu Sayyaf was first thought of as nothing more than a local (provincial) version of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and/or the Moro-Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). In fact, the ASG’s first known leader, Ustadz Abdurajak Janjalani, a bright and charismatic Filipino scholar in Libya and Mecca, was an MNLF follower who fell out of favor with the MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari[4] by criticizing him for coming to terms with the government under the “Tripoli Agreement” brokered by Colonel Muamar Khadafy of Libya in 1976. Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani was killed by Philippine police officials in 1998.

ASG has an extensive network of contacts. The founder of the group, Janjalani, was a member of the Executive Council of the Islamic International Brigade, from which the al Qaeda organization was created. The connection between these two groups was further reinforced when Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was sent by bin Laden to provide bomb-making training to ASG members . The organization also receives financial and logistical support from the two most formidable Islamic terrorist groups in the region; the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Jemaah Islamiya.

Following the death of Janjalani, the group was unable to maintain its religious and political ideology for a period of time. Broken into factions, members turned towards criminal enterprise for more than just the financing of terrorist activities, engaging in many kidnap-for-ransom activities. After 9/11 and the declared War on Terror, the United States committed funding and troop support in ousting the Abu Sayyaf Group from the area. This sustained conflict with government forces lead the ASG into a resurgence of terrorist activity. 

Structure

The structure of the group was historically paramilitary; however, with the decline in financial and logistical support from al Qaeda, the ASG experienced a steady decrease in activity and a deterioration of group structure. Members turned towards more criminal activity, and split into separate factions that have only a loose affiliation with one another. Since the resurgence following the 9/11 attack in the U.S., group cohesion has become more apparent, although it is still decentralized. ASG has been successful in carrying out large-scale bombings and other operations, and have even created an urban assassination unit, called the Fisabillilah, under the direction of both ASG and Jemaah Islamiya leaders.

Arsenal

ASG has access to a wide array of weaponry; the Philippines serves as the major supply source and transit point for weapons and explosives provided to other radical Islamic groups in the region. The relations between different extremist groups is complex in the region; the Infante Organization, a group that distributes drugs and smuggles weapons in the Philippines, New York, California, New Jersey and Louisiana is reported to have supplied weapons to the Abu Sayyaf. Additionally, Victor Blout, a weapons supplier to bin Laden’s al Qaeda organization, also supplied arms to ASG in the past.

Funding

ASG has received funding from a variety of sources. Mohammad Jamal Khalifa, a wealthy Saudi businessman who is notorious for funding Islamic extremist movements around the world, is said to be a main financier of ASG. Drug trafficking has also aided in financing the terrorist group; ASG claims to have received arms, ammunition, and explosives from sources in Libya, Pakistan, and other Middle Eastern countries. For example, Libya publicly paid millions of dollars for the release of the foreign hostages seized from Malaysia in 2000. ASG has received upwards of $6 million from foreign sources, including al Qaeda and Libya. In recent years, financing from foreign sources has declined and the group has turned to financing through criminal means. Besides kidnapping, which has made the group infamous, ASG members also cultivate marijuana for sale, as well as extort money from local businesses.

Tactics

In order to secure an Islamic state in the Philippines, the founder, Janjalani, focused group efforts against non-believers, specifically Christian churches, missionaries, and other non-Muslim targets. In its first several years as an organization, ASG committed 67 terrorist incidents, resulting in the deaths of over 100 people.

While group members are still highly active in criminal activities, specifically kidnap-for-ransom incidents, they began attacking Philippines’ police and security forces, as well as U.S. government forces stationed in the region as early as 2002. They are notorious for carrying out large-scale bombing attacks, using various types of improvised explosive devices, including vehicle-born.

Gallery

References 

1. Retrieved from [1]
2. Gershman, J. (2002). Is Southeast Asia the second front? Foreign Affairs, 81(4), 60-74.
3. Zachary Abuza. 2003. Militant Islam in Southeast Asia: Crucible of Terror. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
4. Filler, A. L. (2003). The Abu Sayyaf Group: a growing menace to civil society. Terrorism and Political Violence, 14(4), 131-162.
5. Retrieved from [2]
6. Retrieved from [3]
7. Phillipine Navy. (2010, February 18). Retrieved from [4]
8. Retrieved from [5]
9. Retrieved from [6]