[ATIMES] The moment he assumed the highest government post in the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the military to eliminate the 400-odd heavily armed bandidos bandidos holy warriors 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 (ASG) which had been terrorizing the country for over 25 years.
Around 10,000 soldiers were deployed and a naval blockade was ordered on the shores of Basilan |