The Abu Sayaff Group or ‘Bearer of the Sword’

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History
• Started in 1991 when it split from the Moro National Liberation front.
• Based mostly in the Southern Islands of the Philippines, but they operated in Malaysia in 2000.
• They have many ties with Radical Islamic Organizations. Involved with Osama bin Laden and other major terrorists.
• Abduragak Abuakar Janalani was the leader and like Osama bin Laden, he was a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. He was killed in a gun fight by police in 1998.
• After a lot of deciding who would take over has leader after the death, Khadafy Janjalani, Abduragak’s younger brother took over.
• The young Islamic radicals that have been mostly recruited from high schools and universities.
• There are 200 core fighters and more than 2,000 supporters
• The group receives funding from robberies, piracy, and kidnappings. It is also believed that the organization receives funding from the international terrorist network of Osama bin Ladin.
• Smallest, but most radical Islamic group present in the world today.
Activity
• Abu Sayyaf's activities include bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and extortion from companies and wealthy businessmen in order to attain their aims.
• First ever attack was throwing a bomb into a wharf that had a boat carrying Christian preachers. They have since bombed several Catholic churches in Zamboanga and Davao City, killing several people.
• In 1993, Abu Sayyaf gunmen kidnapped Charles Walton, a language researcher at the US-based Summer Institute of Linguistics. Walton was 61 and they released him after 23 days.
• In 1994, Abu Sayyaf militants kidnapped three Spanish nuns and a Spanish priest in separate incidents. In 1998, their victims included two Hong Kong men, a Malaysian and a Taiwanese grandmother.
• In April 1995 Abu Sayyaf carried out a vicious attack on the Christian town of Ipil in Mindanao. Gunmen razed the town center to the ground and shot 53 civilians a...