[NEWSINFO.INQUIRER.NET] The military will crush 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... and Maute terrorist groups in six months to one year to put an end to kidnappings and kabooms in the South once and for all, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Monday.
Lorenzana said the timetable set by the military was just right and that Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Año was convinced the military could contain the two terrorist groups during that period, although an additional six months would be a big help.
For a start, he said, there will be big organizational changes at the Western Mindanao Command, which has jurisdiction over areas where the Abu Sayyaf and Maute groups operate.
Innovative approach
"We are going to do something new or innovative to finish this problem once and for all," Lorenzana said, but declined to divulge details of the plan.
"We will prevent them from kidnapping more [people] and we will try to recover those [whom they are still holding captive]," he said, adding that the two groups are holding 27 local and foreign hostages.
President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to crush the Abu Sayyaf since the bandit group killed two Canadian hostages -- Robert Hall and John Ridsdel -- last year.
Changing view
Mr. Duterte apologized to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the killings and promised to arrest the "criminals and exact justice."
But how he viewed the Abu Sayyaf became uncertain in July when he said during Hari Raya Eid al-Fitr celebration in Davao City that the kidnappings carried out by the group were not crimes.
"You’ve never heard me say [they are] criminals. It is a different setup there because these are the guys who were driven to desperation," he said.
On Aug. 12, however, he said he did not know who the Abu Sayyaf bandidos were and what they stood for, but "we have to destroy them."
On Aug 26, he said he once admired the Abu Sayyaf and he had ordered the police and the military to "destroy them because they are criminals."
He said the government had all the resources to finish the Abu Sayyaf in one week.
In September last year, speaking at a side event to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Laos, Mr. Duterte vowed to make the Abu Sayyaf pay for their crimes, saying he would "eat" the bandidos "alive."
Maute Group
The Maute Group is believed to be responsible for the kaboom on a night market in Davao City that killed 15 people and injured 70 others on Sept. 2 last year.
The group is also a suspect in the two kabooms that injured 32 people in Hilongos, Leyte province, on Dec. 28.
Mr. Duterte has ordered the Philippine National Police to crush the Maute Group as soon as possible.
In the case of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters ...a MILF splinter group aligned with the Islamic State... (BIFF), which broke away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), with which the government is talking peace, Lorenzana said he was satisfied with support and cooperation from local residents in combating the violent group.
To beef up its forces, Lorenzana said, the AFP will recruit 10,000 soldiers this year. President Duterte approved the recruitment last year, he added.
Lorenzana said the recruits would be trained for one year then would be deployed in 2018.
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Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2017 00:00 ||
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[FREEMALAYSIATODAY] Police have told state religious departments to be more aggressive in monitoring Islamist preachers to ensure they do not promote radical ideologies that could inspire terrorist acts.
Bukit Aman’s anti-terrorism chief, Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, said a lack of enforcement by religious authorities had given room to foreign and local preachers to engage with the public unmonitored. Some of them were spreading teachings that were not in line with mainstream Sunni beliefs, he added.
“We have noticed that some of these teachings lean towards extremism although the contents do not directly tell the listeners to cause harm to fellow Muslims,” he said.
He gave the example of preachers who would not directly tell their audiences that some Ahli Sunnah Wa al-Jamaah (SWJ) teachings were blasphemous but would call them “bid’ah (innovative)” instead.
Some of these preachers’ followers, being aware of prophetic traditions that condemn innovation in religion, might conclude that it would be permissible to kill the so-called innovators among SWJ adherents, Ayob said.
He said his department’s role did not include monitoring preachers, but added that it nevertheless had a list of suspects.
“If the teachings are against true Islamic teachings, we will advise the religious departments on the preachers and it is up to them to take further action,” he said. “By right, the preachers should get permission from the state religious department, but apparently many do not.”
He said the department’s current list included some preachers hailing from West Asian and African countries.
Ayob spoke of a Singaporean preacher, 64-year-old Rasul Dahri, who was arrested for the third time last year. He had been active in the Klang Valley and Johor for a few years although the National Fatwa Council, as well as the Penang Religious Department, had banned seven of his books.
He also spoke of terror suspect Mas Selamat Kastari of Singapore, whom Malaysian police arrested in April 2009, more than a year after he escaped from detention in his home country. He said Mas followed Rasul Dahri’s classes in Johor between between 1987 and 1989 before deciding to join Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
Citing other examples, Ayob said JI leaders Abu Bakar Bashir and Abdullah Sungkar managed to sneak into Malaysia in 1985 because of lack of monitoring by religious departments.
“This resulted in the recruitment of almost 300 Malaysians and citizens of other Asean countries as JI members.”
Ayob said the Johor religious department was one of the strictest in the country when it came to enforcing the law. “It is very stern and would not allow preachers without credentials and approval to teach in the state.”
He also commended the religious departments of Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Perak, Terengganu, Pahang, Sabah and Sarawak for strictness of enforcement.
A counter-terrorism expert from Universiti Malaya said yesterday that religious departments should work harder to filter the activities of preachers in the country to curtail the spread of “salafi jihadi” ideologies.
Balakrishnan RK Suppaiah acknowledged that countering the extremist ideology was difficult, but he said Malaysia could do it because it had the “right foundation” and a good police force.
“People will question you for monitoring places of worship,” he said. “But we have to do it because we are a moderate country where religion is concerned.”
[RAPPLER] Two were killed in a follow-up police operation against local terror group Ansar Khalifa Philippines (AKP) Saturday morning, January 7, in barangay Daliao of Sarangani's Maasim town.
Security officials identified them as foreign terrorist Abu Naila and a woman named Kadija. The 2 reportedly resisted arrest. Cops fired at them when they attempted to throw a rifle grenade.
Naila's nationality and affiliation are yet to be ascertained, but he is only one of several foreign Death Eaters believed to have joined the local terror group that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're 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 the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... Kadija is suspected be one of the live-in partners of AKP's slain leader Mohammad Jaafar Maguid or "Tokboy."
Police said they will continue pursuit operations against foreign Death Eaters who have joined AKP in Sarangani.
Security officials claim AKP has no direct links with the foreign terrorist organization, but the group has confirmed links with Indonesian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
"Tokboy was trained by key JI leaders, including Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, better known as Marwan, the high profile target of the Mamasapano tragedy that derailed the peace talks," wrote Rappler executive editor Maria Ressa.
"AKP under Tokboy has a direct link to Indonesian groups, especially MIT, Mujihidin Indonesia Timur, led by an Indonesian who trained in the Philippines, Santoso," Ressa added.
AKP is also believed to be behind threats against the November 2015 APEC Summit in Manila, which was spread by ISIS propaganda sites.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
01/10/2017 00:00 ||
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[MANILATIMES.NET] At least five to ten foreign faceless myrmidons have sought refuge in the country, the chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) disclosed on Monday.
Director General Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa told a news briefing in Camp Crame in Quezon City that these foreign faceless myrmidons are of different nationalities.
"I cannot give you the exact figure but as far as police intelligence is concerned we are monitoring at least five to ten of different nationalities," dela Rosa said.
He admitted that Filipino intelligence operatives are having a hard time looking for the Malay-looking terrorists.
The Philippine National Police chief they had received information that the foreign faceless myrmidons are training in the country for deployment later to strife-torn Syria.
One of those who had finished training in the Philippines, according to dela Rosa, was a suspected member of the jihadist group Ansar al-Khilafa Philippines (AKP) killed in Sarangani province in southern Mindanao last Saturday.
"This Sudanese was bound for Syria. So this group AKP is really aligned with the ISIS," he said.
The slain foreigner was identified as Abu Naila and his wife, a certain Kadija, was also killed during an operation in Barangay Daliao, Maasim town.
Superintendent Romeo Galgo, front man for the Central Mindanao regional police, said one of the suspects attempted to lob a grenade at coppers sent to arrest them, prompting the authorities to shoot them.
Police killed last Thursday morning the leader of the AKP, Mohammad Jaafar Maguid, alias Tokboy.
A source from the police intelligence community had said that one of the Malaysian terror suspect being monitored hiding in Mindanao is Amin Baco alias Abu Jihad.
The intelligence source said Abu Jihad is a member of the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) who has been given safe refuge by 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) in Sulu in Mindanao.
The source added that Abu Jihad is also helping ASG members recruit locally.
The intelligence source said the Malaysian suspect was involved in past bombing incidents in Mindanao and is one of the five JI members who has been hiding in Sulu under the protection of the ASG.
The source from the police intelligence community added that a foreign terrorist from the Kihilafa Islamiya Movement (KIM) is training members of the ASG in guerilla warfare in some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location in in Lanao del Sur.
The ASG and KIM are among the terrorist groups in southern Philippines that have pledged allegiance to the ISIS.
The source from the intelligence community identified the foreign terrorist trainor as Abdurahman, a Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... n and a JI member.
The intelligence source said Abdurahman has been staying in the country for many years.
The source added that Abdurahman is married to a Tausug and residing at a mosque near a mall in Davao City.
According to the intelligence source, the IM has received funding from a support group in Saudi Arabia.
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