Archive for Abu Sayyaf

More Progress in the Philippines

Posted by: Ion | March 10th, 2007 · 4:21 PM

The war against lethal Al Qaeda ally Abu Sayyaf is going well, thanks to support from local leaders in the impoverished, predominantly Muslim, southern islands of the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf’s leaders are dead and their followers have fled into the dense interior jungles of Jolo Island, as they are hunted down by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). with active US assistance. Their leaders, Khadaffy Janjalani killed in Patikul, on Jolo in December 2006 and Abu Solaiman was killed in Talipao, Sulu, January this year, were found by coordinated intelligence operations between the United States and the AFP.

Backed by development aid and generous cash incentives for intelligence information (Rewards for Justice), even Abu Sayyaf members own relatives are rushing to betray them. Thus the salafist ambition in this crucial corner of Asia is slowly withering:

“We are thankful that the atrocities have stopped. The Americans helped us when they arrived, they helped repair our mosque and renovate the school,” [cleric Abhasaan] Idlasan, 54, told Agence France Presse recently as he joined a group of local officials in greeting visiting US envoy Kristie Kenney and military officials.

“The soldiers are very polite, they are specially playful with children,” he said. “We feel safe having them around.”

Idlasan’s support is key to the US troops’ goal of “winning hearts and minds” here and elsewhere in Jolo, considered by defense experts as an important Southeast Asian front in the US-led global counter terrorism campaign.

As the local cleric, Idlasan is highly respected and his openness allows joint US and Philippine forces to move towards finally isolating and crushing the Abu Sayyaf.

[…]

And with the help of the local community, officials said the rebels would be flushed out of their hideouts and neutralized.

“They are now disorganized and leaderless,” said Major General Eugenio Cedo, commander of the Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division, stressing that public support for the US-Philippine joint exercises could lead to “isolating the Abu Sayyaf”.

“If the people see a lot of development projects, they will realize that terrorism is not the way to go,” he said, stressing that those turning in Abu Sayyaf members under the US government’s rewards for justice program also included close friends and relatives of the militants. (ABS-CBN)

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