[BenarNews] Ten members 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...
Group holy warrior group have surrendered to government forces in the southern Philippines in recent days rather than risk being killed in a counter-militant offensive, military officials said Tuesday.
Since January, 174 Abu Sayyaf suspects have turned themselves in to the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the south, including about 40 non-combatants who were providing logistical support to the group, the military said.
The overall strength of the Abu Sayyaf Group is believed to have fallen to 130 active fighters in ASG’s strongholds on the southern islands 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...
and Jolo, the military has also said.
"The former ASG members revealed that due to their group’s weakened manpower and capability, they just have to run and hide from the government forces. They grew tired, thus, they surrendered," said Maj. Gen. Ignatius Patrimonio, commander of the Joint Task Force Sulu.
Seven of the Abu Sayyaf members surrendered to the task force on Friday, turning in six automatic rifles and a handgun.
Three other gunnies who were allegedly involved in attacks against government troops in the towns of Sumisip, Tipo-tipo and al-Barka surrendered on Basilan island on the same day. The three — identified as Bero Ankun (alias Abu Bero), Ridwan Jikiri (alias Abu Paruk) and Abdulgani Radjuli (alias Ganih) — turned over two rifles, two magazines and 21 rounds of ammunition.
The military will be relentless in pursuing and catching "the remaining turbans who are still out there, afraid and confused," said Brig. Gen. Arturo Rojas, the acting head of the military’s Western Mindanao Command.
Founded in the 1990s, the Abu Sayyaf Group, or "Bearers of the Sword," is the smallest and most violent mostly peaceful of Moslem krazed killer groups in the southern Philippines. It allied itself with the late Osama bin Laden
 ...... who has left the building......
’s al-Qaeda, and carried out large-scale attacks, including bombings and kidnappings of missionaries and foreigners.
Later, it shifted allegiance to the 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....
and one of its commanders, Isnilon Hapilon, emerged as a regional leader. He would lead hundreds of Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern fighters in sacking the southern city of Marawi, during a krazed killer siege that lasted five months in 2017.
Hapilon, who was killed at the end of a long-running battle in Marawi, was succeeded by Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, whose operations were based largely in Jolo. Sawadjaan criminal masterminded the bombing of a Catholic church in January 2019 where an Indonesian couple who strapped bombs to their bodies killed themselves and 21 others, Philippine officials said.
Military intelligence officials have said they believe that Sawadjaan was killed in a July 2020 shootout. While authorities never recovered his body, Sawadjaan has not been heard from since. 
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