Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Abu Sayyaf	Abu Sayyaf	Takfir wal Hijra	Middle East				20031025
	Abu Sayyaf	al-Tawhid	Middle East				20030927

Southeast Asia

Philippine govt soldiers kill 8 suspected Islamic State-linked militants in Mindanao firefight

2024-01-28

[BenarNews] Eight suspected Filipino snuffies belonging to a local group allied with Islamic State

That would be the attack on Mindanao State University.

According to military officials, the Filipino snuffies were apparently acting under the instructions of the Islamic State, which had earlier owned up to the attack.

"During the military operations the troops killed eight enemies," Brig. Gen. Yegor Rey Baroquillo Jr., commander of the 103rd, told BenarNews. After the firefight, troops retrieved the bodies of the slain bad boys, he said.

Baroquillo said four members of the Scout Rangers, who were maimed in the fighting, were brought to a local hospital. He did not divulge the extent of their wounds.

He said the troops were after the Marawi bombers and that search operations were focused on three Lanao towns believed to be strongholds of the DI-Maute: Pantao Ragat, Poona PIagapo and Munai.

Brig. Gen. Anthon Abrina, commander of the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade, told BenarNews in a phone interview that "we are on heightened, red alert status following the encounter Thursday evening."

Troop reinforcements have been brought in and several checkpoints were established along the national highway leading to the areas "to ensure the safety of civilians in their respective communities," Abrina said.

The towns in Lanao are near the city of Marawi, where the bombing took place.

Military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. has blamed the DI-Maute group for the bombing, saying it was carried out as Dire Revenge for a military operation elsewhere in the south that left over a dozen snuffies killed.

Two of those killed were identified as Mundi Sawadjaan and Jalandoni Lucsadato. Sawadjaan has been identified as a sub-leader of the Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
, another Islamic State-linked group in the southern Philippines.

He was also the nephew of the late Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, who was thought to be the group’s leader before he was killed in 2020. The elder Sawadjaan at one time was also named as the IS leader for the Philippines.

Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan also criminal masterminded a January 2019 bombing at a Catholic church on southern Jolo island that killed 23 people including an Indonesian couple blamed for the suicide kaboom, according to Philippine authorities.

Link

Southeast Asia

Governor claims Sulu has eliminated Abu Sayyaf Group but observers urge caution

2023-09-13

[BenarNews] The governor of Sulu has declared it to be free of Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
holy warriors, but analysts warn that the group’s top leaders remain on the lam while private armies hired by politicians strike fear among people in the southern Philippine province.

Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan, who chairs a task force of military and local government officials, last week announced that the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) had been wiped out in Sulu, a chain of islands in the far south near the Malaysian part of Borneo.

Link

Southeast Asia

Philippine military blames ex-separatist rebels for deadly southern ambush

2023-08-16

Splitters!

[BenarNews] The Philippine military on Monday accused members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a former guerrilla group, of killing a soldier and a policeman during an attack in the south that left seven government troops maimed.

In Sunday’s incident in Ungkaya Pukan, a remote town in the island province of Basilan
...Basilan is a rugged, jungle-covered island in the southern Philippines. It is a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, bandidos, and maybe even orcs. Most people with any sense travel with armed escorts...
, officials said that 10 button men ambushed a security convoy guarding a Joint Peace and Security Team. The team is tasked with overseeing the decommissioning and disarming of former MILF combatants as agreed in a 2014 peace agreement with Manila.

The team members were riding in two vehicles after inspecting the area — a former MILF stronghold — when they were attacked, said Maj. Andrew Linao, a regional military front man.

"Our troops fought back, resulting in a firefight which lasted for five minutes," Linao said.

He said the soldier went titzup, while the policeman died later while being treated for his injuries. The seven other maimed soldiers were recuperating at a military hospital in Zamboanga City.

"This act is a clear manifestation of the perpetrators’ disrespect to their local government officials, the military, and their fellow Basileños, hence, we will not stop until these heartless individuals are identified and neutralized," Linao said.

BenarNews contacted local MILF authorities but did not immediately hear back.

Brig. Gen. Alvin Luzon, commander of 101st Brigade and Joint Task Force Basilan (JTFB), said the MILF leadership "appears to have no control over its members," although he added that they had denied their members were involved in the ambush.

"Right now, the pressure is on the MILF side to show their sincerity," Luzon told news hounds.

The former separatist group’s leadership said they had no control over people not identified as their members, according to Luzon.

"But the MILF leadership promised to look and identify those perpetrators," Luzon said.

He said pursuit operations were continuing on Monday against the suspects.

The 12,000-strong MILF was once the country’s largest murderous Moslem force until it dropped its bid for independence and settled for expanded autonomy under the 2014 peace deal.

Demobilization started in 2019, and was to be taken in three stages. At each stage, those demobbed were to get U.S. $2,400 per weapon, including funds for education. Stage 1 covered 145 gunnies and 75 weapons, stage 2 covered 12,000 gunnies and 2,000 weapons. Stage 3, which started this month, is to cover 12,699 gunnies and 2,450 weapons. It’s odd that the Philippine defense department estimated 40,000 firearm in MILF hands.

The separatists then became caretakers of a Moslem region although they agreed to turn over their weapons, while some of the ex-guerrillas were absorbed into the local police force.

As long as the Philippine government surrendered the territory to the Ummah, that’s all that should matter. Except to those who refuse to give up the pleasures of the hard jihad of the sword even after they’ve won.

In November, around 100 suspected MILF members attacked a military outpost in the same village as the weekend ambush, according to the military. Officials did not immediately say if the two incidents were related.

Link

Southeast Asia

Thousands flee standoff between govt forces and ex-guerrillas in southern Philippines

2023-06-27

[BenarNews] Thousands of civilians have fled their homes in the southern Philippines’ Sulu islands amid a standoff following a deadly weekend gunbattle between police and armed former guerrillas, officials said Monday. As of late Monday, the standoff was still ongoing and at least one policeman and three suspected members of the Moro National Liberation Front, a former separatist rebel group, were reported killed in related violence over the weekend.

The military said the violence began Saturday when followers of Pando Mudjasan, a former town vice mayor and leader of the MNLF, fired upon coppers as they prepared to serve him an arrest warrant for murder and illegal firearms and ammunition.

Police said Mudjasan’s armed followers housed inside a fortified compound opened fire on the police as they approached the village of Bualo Lipid in Maimbung town.

Maimbung is on Jolo island in Sulu province, for those interested in the geography of the thing.

One member of the police Special Action Force (SAF) unit and three followers of Mudjasan were killed in the fighting. Ten coppers and a soldier were also reported to have been maimed, while two civilians were hit by stray bullets, the police and military said.

The violence has displaced about 5,000-6,000 civilians, Maj. Andrew Linao, front man for the military’s Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom), said Monday. The civilians were sheltering in the Maimbung town gymnasium and being assisted by local officials.

"They fled because they are very afraid, and we are calling on everyone to calm down," Linao told news hounds. "But that is what usually happens when you have a firefight near a populated community."

Civilians near the conflict area were being advised not to return to their homes amid ongoing tensions in the area.

Brig. Gen. Eugenio Boquio, commander of the Army’s 1101st Brigade, said Mudjasan and his brother were maimed but were able to escape, according to intelligence reports. But Mudjasan and his followers have not beat feet from Sulu, an island province in the far southern Philippines, although it was unclear how many of their followers were still inside the compound, Linao said.

Linao said the area where the fighting was concentrated had been cordoned off, with troops and soldiers moving closer in.

"The operation of the SAF and police unit is ongoing to serve the warrant, capture and neutralize Pando [Mudjasan]," Linao said.

"Our effort is continuing now and our Army has set up checkpoints and blockades to prevent them from escaping."

Mudjasan’s group was composed of 20 to 30 individuals prior to the clash on Saturday. But the number of his fighters grew to around 50 individuals during the fighting, officials said.

Political warlords controlling their own private armies is a pervasive problem in the Philippines, especially in the southern Mindanao region where many of these officials were once members of bully boy groups who command their own forces.

The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) was once the country’s largest separatist force until it signed a peace deal with the government in 1996, although that agreement failed.

A splinter group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), would later sign a deal that would supersede the old peace pact and create an expanded Moslem autonomous region in Mindanao now controlled by MILF.

Some ex-MNLF fighters became elected local officials in Jolo, with their former rebel commands forming their own private armed security, officials said.

Military coordination and talks with the Sulu-based MNLF leadership were continuing to ensure that the law enforcement operation was aimed only at Mudjasan due to his criminal charges, officials said.

Mudjasan’s illegal activities were not sanctioned by the MNLF leadership, officials said. The runaway’s group was composed of "sympathizers and (Mudjasan’s) relatives from the MNLF," Brig. Gen. Boquio said.

Reports said police and military officers were about to serve an arrest warrant against former MNLF leader Pando Mudjasan when the suspect’s followers fired at the team, triggering a firefight. https://t.co/Hd7F4ZxSw3 pic.twitter.com/v17bH99wEK
— The Philippine Star (@PhilippineStar) June 26, 2023

6,000 Maimbung, Sulu evacuees returning home after shootout, says gov

[MSN] More than 6,000 residents of Maimbung, Sulu who were evacuated for their safety during a deadly shootout over the weekend are now being sent home, the governor said.

On Saturday former vice mayor Pando Mudjasan and his men exchanged fire with government forces who tried to serve a warrant of arrest on him. The encounter left one policeman and four people on Mudjasan's side dead.

According to Jun Veneracion's report on "24 Oras" on Monday, Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan said that some of the evacuees have started returning home.

Mudjasan, who is still on the lam, is suspected to be a leader of the Moro National Liberation Front

...the Turkic paramilitaries intended to replace with their native jihadi ferocity all the highly trained Turkish soldiers Sultan Erdogan I the much beloved has jailed in the last few years for not worshipping the ground he walks upon. The Uighurs and so forth who did not join Al Nusra or ISIS seem to have ended up here...
(MNLF). He is wanted on murder charges and the government also has a warrant to search his premises for firearms and explosives. Authorities are now in pursuit of around 50 gunnies.

Link

Southeast Asia

Teenage Abu Sayyaf militant surrenders in southern Philippines, military says

2023-06-22

[BenarNews] A 13-year-old Egyptian member of the Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
bad boy group and a sub-leader of the outfit have surrendered to the military in the southern Philippines, the military said Friday. The teenager gave himself up to troops this week in Indanan, a town in the island province of Sulu, officials said. He joined the bad boy group when he was 10, and blamed his mother, a jacket wallah who died in a kaboom in Indanan in 2019, for his introduction into militancy, he told the military. The boy was with the sub-leader who was identified by an alias, as Ellam, 26. The duo turned over two M-16 rifles, a magazine and 20 ammunition during their surrender.

"He is the last juvenile foreign terrorist," the military said in a statement, referring to the teenager.

Link

Southeast Asia

Philippine army rescues teen son of Indonesian suicide bombers

2023-06-07

[BenarNews] The Philippine military said Tuesday it had rescued the teenaged son of an Indonesian couple who blew themselves up in a 2019 suicide kaboom that killed 21 people at a Catholic cathedral in the south.

Ahmad Ibrahim Rullie, 15, was rescued nearly two years after his younger sister was recovered from Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
gunnies during a military operation on the same southern island of Jolo.

The military’s Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) said it found the boy on Saturday in the town of Sumisipa after launching an operation to arrest two leaders of an Islamic State

...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
-linked faction of Abu Sayyaf.

Maj. Andrew Linao, a front man for Wesmincom, said the Death Eaters, Mudzrimar Sawadjaan and Pasil Bayali, escaped during the mission but left the boy behind.

The teenager was taken to a local hospital for a medical check up and would remain with the military for a "custodial debriefing," Linao said.

The military said he was the son of Indonesian couple Rullie Rian Zeke and Ulfa Handayani Saleh, who were identified as the bombers of the Jolo cathedral. The Indonesian couple killed 21 people and themselves in the twin suicide kaboom in January 2019.

Authorities believe they were indoctrinated by Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, the former Philippine commander of the Islamic State, who criminal masterminded the attack.

The military has said that Sawadjaan might have been killed in a July 2020 clash in Jolo, but his body has not been recovered.

After his demise, he was succeeded by his nephew Mundi Sawadjaan, who went on to carry out a series of bombings.

In June 2021, the Philippine military rescued the boy’s 13-year-old sister Sitti Aisyah Rullie after a firefight with Abu Sayyaf members in the town of Patikul on Jolo.

Another sister, Rezky Fantasya Rullie, allegedly had planned a suicide kaboom but was arrested during an October 2020 raid, the military said.

Asked if Ahmad Ibrahim Rullie was being indoctrinated to be a jacket wallah, Linao said it was possible given his parents' history.

"We are going to determine that in the custodial debriefing," he said.

Westmincom commander Lt. Gen. Roy Galido praised soldiers from the 5th Scout Ranger Battalion, under the 1103rd Brigade, for rescuing the boy.

"He is still young, and we are hopeful that with proper guidance and counseling, he will be able to walk back on the right path and build a better future," said Galido.

Link

Southeast Asia

Five dead in shooting rampage inside Philippine army camp

2023-02-12

A tragic thing that happens from time to time, but this time not War on Terror. Of interest to us because the last few paragraphs discuss a similar attack by an Abu Sayyaf (ISIS in the southern Philippines) turban last October who’d been hired as a menial, and when American troops added their skills alongside the Philippine army to recapture Marawi City from ISIS in 2017.

[BenarNews] A soldier ran amok inside an army camp in the southern Philippines on Saturday, killing four fellow soldiers and wounding another, the military said.

The suspect, identified as Private Johmar Villabito, of the Army's Service Support Battalion (SSBn), was himself killed in a shootout when two soldiers tried to subdue him.

An investigation has been launched to determine what triggered the deadly rampage in Cagayan de Oro city, the military said. There were initial fears — later dismissed — that state enemies were behind the attack, because Islamic State

Link

Southeast Asia

Marine, 7 militants killed in weekend clashes in southern Philippines

2023-02-07

[BenarNews] Seven button men with suspected links to Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
faceless myrmidons were slain over the weekend by police hunting for a group leader wanted in connection with the 2009 killing of a police superintendent in the southern Philippines, officials said.

The shootout in the Sulu Islands took place on Sunday, a day after a pro-Islamic State

...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
bully boy group ambushed a Marine patrol, leaving one of the troops dead and wounding three others in Lanao del Sur, another province in the volatile south.

In Sulu province, police launched a pre-dawn operation to arrest Juko Dahim, whose group had worked with Abu Sayyaf Group snuffies in several operations, officials said. He was wanted for his alleged role in the ambush killing of Senior Superintendent Jularisim Kasim, the provincial police chief, 14 years ago.

"However,
a clean conscience makes a soft pillow...
the heavily gang of Alganer Dahim and Juko Dahim sensed the arrival of the operating units, triggering the firefight," said Richard Verceles, operations chief of the Area Police Command for Western Mindanao.

Members of the Sulu field unit of the police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, police commandos and other units were involved in Sunday’s operation.

Verceles said seven bully boys, including Juko Dahim, were killed in the 40-minute firefight. Two suspects were arrested and several high-powered assault rifles, ammunition and other war materials were recovered. A junior officer and two civilians were maimed as well.

Alganer Dahim escaped and is the subject of a manhunt, police said.

According to police, Juko Dahim and his group were members and supporters of dead Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom sub-leader Majan Sahidjuan (alias Apo Mike), whose group was blamed for cross-border kidnappings in Sabah, a state in nearby Malaysian Borneo.

Verceles said Juko was involved in kidnapping activities and armed encounters with government forces, killing civilians and illegal drug trade.

SATURDAY ATTACK
A day earlier, suspected Maute-Daulah Islamiyah faceless myrmidons launched a bushwhack of the Marine patrol in Marogong, a town in Lanao del Sur. The Maute group is one of many factions of Daulah Islamiyah, the local name for the Islamic State bad boy group.

"The Marines were not in uniform and were just bringing their short firearms because they were conducting community relations in the village," Lt. Col. Sergio Reyes Ronquillo, commander of the 2nd Marine Battalion Landing Team, told news hounds.

Ronquillo said Marine Sgt. Tonti Melbert Pamaran, who was leading the patrol, was killed instantly. Despite their injuries, the three maimed Marines fought the faceless myrmidons until reinforcements from a nearby camp arrived.

Previously, Philippine Army Chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner had said that the Daulah Islamiyah faceless myrmidons were losing strength after government troops attacked their camp in Maguing, Lanao del Sur, last March.

He said the faceless myrmidons numbered about 25 and were led by Faharudin Hadji Satar (also known as Abu Bakar or Abu Zacaria).

Link

Southeast Asia

Suspected Abu Sayyaf attack injures paramilitary officer, 3 civilians in southern Philippines

2023-01-10

[BenarNews] Gunmen allegedly linked to the Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...

The overall strength of the Abu Sayyaf Group was believed to have fallen to 130 active fighters in ASG’s strongholds on the southern islands of Basilan and Jolo, the military said last November.

Group (ASG) injured a paramilitary officer and three civilians during a Sunday night attack on an army detachment on the southern island of Basilan
...Basilan is a rugged, jungle-covered island in the southern Philippines. It is a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, bandidos, and maybe even orcs. Most people with any sense travel with armed escorts...
, police and military officials said.

Link

Africa Subsaharan

France attempted to assassinate Russian in Africa, Wagner Group head claims

2022-12-17

See here for the report from Russia.

[Jerusalem Post] Leaders from a Russian mercenary group are pointing fingers at France for a recent attack in an African nation.

The head of a Russian private militia accused France of attempting to assassinate the head of a Russian representative office in the Central African Republic, who was seriously injured on Friday after opening a mail bomb.

Dmitry Syty, head of the "Russian House," was taken to a hospital in the capital Bangui and by late afternoon his condition was serious but stable, the Russian Embassy said, according to the Russian RIA Novosti news agency.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the once-secretive Russian private military contractor Wagner Group, which has supported Central African Republic's (CAR) army since 2018 but gained wider attention with its role in Russia's war in Ukraine, blamed France for the attack.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said the claims were false. "It's even a good example of Russian propaganda and the fanciful imagination that sometimes characterizes this propaganda," she told journalists on a trip to Morocco.

France is the former colonial ruler in CAR, a gold- and diamond-rich country of 4.7 million people whose government is fighting several rebel insurgencies. Since 2018 it has been assisted by hundreds of Russian operatives, including many from Wagner.

Link

Southeast Asia

Ceasefire with ex-Muslim rebels holding in southern Philippines, govt says

2022-11-18

[BenarNews] A truce halting intense festivities between Philippine troops and members of a former Moslem separatist guerrilla group is holding in the south, the government’s chief peace adviser said Wednesday as he blamed "third party elements" for last week’s deadly fighting.

The two days of festivities on Basilan
...Basilan is a rugged, jungle-covered island in the southern Philippines. It is a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, bandidos, and maybe even orcs. Most people with any sense travel with armed escorts...
island ignited on Nov. 8 when Moro Islamic Liberation Front forces fired at Philippine troops who were sent to arrest "lawless elements" blamed for local bombings, authorities said. The MILF members involved in the fighting apparently were protecting other people from arrest.

Link

Southeast Asia

Fierce fighting breaks out between Philippine Army, MILF forces

2022-11-10

[BenarNews] Deadly fighting has broken out in the southern Philippines between government forces and members of a former Moslem guerrilla group that signed a peace deal with Manila in 2014, officials said Wednesday.

Multiple fatalities and injuries were reported on both sides in fierce festivities between military personnel and members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front group that began on Basilan
...Basilan is a rugged, jungle-covered island in the southern Philippines. It is a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, bandidos, and maybe even orcs. Most people with any sense travel with armed escorts...
island Tuesday and were still going on Wednesday, according to officials.

Link

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