Who is the Abu Sayyaf Group in the Philippines?

Executive Summary: The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) is an Islamist terrorist organization that seeks to establish an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines. ASG is known for kidnapping innocents, including Westerners, for ransom, and beheading captives if their demands are not met.

When did Abu Sayyaf group leader Khadaffy Janjalani die?

Khadaffy Janjalani died in a shootout with Philippine forces on September 4, 2006, creating another power vacuum within the group. ASG then splintered along clan lines into smaller alliances, and the group returned to less ambitious terror activities.

When did Abu Sayyaf start kidnapping people for ransom?

In September 2014, the group began kidnapping people for ransom, in the name of ISIL. In the early 1970s, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) was the main Muslim rebel group fighting in Basilan and Mindanao.

Why did Abu Sayyaf go to Afghanistan to fight?

Abdurajik went to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet Union and the Afghan government during the Soviet–Afghan War. During that period, he is alleged to have met Osama Bin Laden and been given $6 million to establish a more Islamic group drawn from the MNLF.

When was the first attack by Abu Sayyaf?

Abu Sayyaf, which means “barrier of the sword,” carried out its first attack in 1991, killing two American evangelists with grenades on the southern island of Mindanao. As the 1990s unfolded, the group’s body count in Mindanao steadily rose.

Why did Abu Sayyaf Group start kidnapping for ransom?

Andang advocated for the strategic use of kidnapping for ransom, believing that tactic would not only help bankroll ASG but raise the group’s profile and distinguish it from the more mainstream and increasingly less violent Moro organizations, such as the MILF and the MNLF. *

Where was the land mine in Abu Sayyaf?

A small band of U.S. and Philippine soldiers were on their way to pick up supplies for a local school on the southern Philippine island of Jolo on Sept. 29 when their vehicle rolled over a land mine.