The notorious Abu Sayyaf Group, also known as the al-Harakatul Islamiya, started as an Islamist group fighting to establish an Iranian-style Islamic state in Mindanao. Through the years, however, the group engaged in criminal activities, like kidnapping for ransom and extortion, to finance its ideals.

The most widely accepted theory on the beginnings of the Abu Sayyaf Group is that it split from the secessionist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1991.

Although based almost exclusively in Mindanao, the Abu Sayyaf allegedly has ties to a number of Islamic fundamentalist organizations around the world, including Osama bin Ladin’s al-Qaeda network and Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted of organizing the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City.

Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, the former leader of the group, like Osama bin Ladin, was a veteran of the anti-Soviet struggle in Afghanistan. In December 1998, Janjalani was killed in a firefight with police in a village on the border of Isabela and Lamitan in Basilan. Janjalani had led the Abu Sayyaf since 1991.

After Janjalani’s death a power struggle took place within the organization, with the former leader’s brother, Khaddafy Janjalani finally emerging as the new leader. The group is estimated to have several hundred active fighters, largely based on the island provinces of Basilan and Sulu.

The group finances its operations mainly through robbery, piracy and kidnapping for ransom. The group also reportedly received funding from the international terrorist network of Osama bin Ladin.

Abu Sayyaf's activities include bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and extortion from companies and wealthy businessmen to attain their aims.

Terrorist rampage
The group’s first major terrorist attack was a grenade blast in 1991, which killed two foreign women.

The following year Abu Sayyaf militants hurled a bomb at a wharf in Zamboanga City where the MV Doulous, an international floating bookstore manned by Christian preachers, was docked. Several people were injured.

This attack was followed by similar bombings at Zamboanga airport and several Roman Catholic churches.

In 1993 the group bombed a cathedral in Davao City, killing seven people.

The group has consistently targeted foreigners for kidnapping. In 1993, Abu Sayyaf gunmen kidnapped Charles Walton, a language researcher at the US-based Summer Institute of Linguistics. Walton, then 61, was freed 23 days later.

The following year, the group kidnapped three nuns and missionary priest Bernardo Blanco, all Spaniards, in separate incidents.

In April 1995 the Abu Sayyaf carried out a vicious attack on the Christian town of Ipil in Zamboanga del Sur. Gunmen razed the town center to the ground and shot 53 civilians and soldiers dead. The military said the group has forged links with international terrorist cells.

In 1998, the group's victims included two Hong Kong men, a Malaysian and a Taiwanese grandmother.

On March 2000, the Abu Sayyaf held hostage school children and teachers, including Catholic priest Rhoel Gallardo, in the village of Tumahubong on the island of Basilan. Gallardo was later killed.

On April 23, 2000, the Abu Sayyaf gained international notoriety when the group raided a divers’ resort on Sipadan Island in Malaysia. In a lightning raid, the group nabbed 21 mostly Western tourists and resort workers and took them at gunpoint back to their hideout in Sulu. The group demanded a $1-million ransom for each of the Western hostages.

On Aug. 7, 2000, Philippine authorities confirmed that the Abu Sayyaf raked in P245 million in ransoms.

Lure of money
Most of the money was used to buy weapons. Government officials admitted the money came from foreign governments who forked over enormous sums in ransom for the hostages. The payments were supposedly made without the consent of the Philippine government, which maintains a no-ransom policy.

With the money the Abu Sayyaf was able to arm and equip a small army. A large portion of the loot has gone to purchase the loyalty of villagers and arm them, to buy speedboats and several motorcycles. Villagers in Basilan and Sulu said the Abu Sayyaf also paid P50,000 to each follower. Most were also given new weapons.

Intelligence sources said some $5.47 million had been distributed among 13 Abu Sayyaf chieftains. Ghalib Andang, alias Commander Robot, chief of the hostage-takers in Sulu, and Mujib Susukan, received the lion’s share of the loot, some P201 million. Two other Abu Sayyaf leaders, Abu Pula Jumdail and Nadzmi Sahadulla, alias Commander Global, each received P5 million.

Large currency notes also became common in the markets of Jolo, Sulu’s capital town, while Abu Sayyaf’s arms-buying spree drove up the prices of weapons in Mindanao. Prices for mortars, light machineguns, recoilless rifles, M-14s, M-16s and even old Garand single shot rifles suddenly jumped.

The kidnappers were also able to build up an inventory of some 3,000 homemade landmines that they prepared for a possible government assault.

After the Sipadan kidnappings the Abu Sayyaf’s popularity soared.

After years of setbacks in the hands of government forces, the Abu Sayyaf degenerated into a small group of less than 200 armed militants and some 600 followers. The group was seen as little more than a band of armed bandits, who gave Islam a bad name by their brutal attacks on Christians and their indiscriminate bombings.

But with the Sipadan and later the Palawan kidnappings, the Abu Sayyaf has reemerged as a force to reckon with. Not only has a tiny band of militants succeeded in holding the Philippine government hostage to its demands, it has gone further than the government ever has in benefiting the economy of the impoverished local population.

Burgeoning ranks
Basilan Gov. Wahab Akbar, who earlier claimed to be a former Abu Sayyaf member, expressed anxiety that with the huge ransoms raised, the Abu Sayyaf could “mobilize across the region.” The extreme poverty in the Muslim areas of the southern Philippines is driving more young people into the arms of the bandit group.

People in Mindanao said thousands of Moro youths have flocked to join the Abu Sayyaf since the 2000 kidnappings, lured by the huge ransoms the group has squeezed out of foreign governments.

In 2001, military sources said the Abu Sayyaf ranks have swelled at least ten-fold to 3,000 since the start of the hostage crisis in April 2000.

The same sources said local armed groups had offered their services to the Abu Sayyaf, for salaries of from P40,000 to P100,000. Families of Abu Sayyaf members in Basilan claimed that members receive a monthly P20,000 as “salaries.”