Page 1 of
2 Philippines: Success on the
forgotten front By Noel
Tarrazona
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines -
With mounting failures in Iraq and Afghanistan
gaining attention, the southern Philippines has
become the forgotten front in the US-led "global
war on terror". And while US forces are not
directly involved in fighting against the
allegedly al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf here, the
ongoing military operations in the Philippines'
remote southwestern jungles are arguably emerging
as the United States' most successful
counter-terrorism campaign anywhere.
Recent revelations of the assassination of
Abu Sayyaf leader
Kaddafy Janjalani last
September and his presumed successor Abu Solaiman
in January are believed to have badly hobbled the
notorious kidnap-for-ransom group, whose numbers
have reportedly dwindled from as many as 5,000 in
2000 to an estimated 800 or so armed foot soldiers
today.
Janjalani was killed in combat in
September, but his death wasn't confirmed until
last month when the US Federal Bureau of
Investigation completed a DNA test on his remains.
Washington had placed multimillion-dollar bounties
on both senior rebels' heads.
This
Thursday, Philippine marines apprehended alleged
bomb maker Sanjali Utto, who stands accused of
planning various Abu Sayyaf-sponsored bombings, as
well as three of his accomplices. Security forces
reportedly uncovered weapons, homemade bombs and
C-4 explosive during the raid, according to news
reports.
The Abu Sayyaf has been linked to
the 2004 bombing of a passenger ferry in Manila
that killed 116 people, the deadliest terror
attack in the Philippines. It also stands accused
of providing shelter to transnational terrorists
and alleged bomb makers Dulmatin and Abdul Basit
Usman. Dulmatin was allegedly involved in the
planning of the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202
people, many of them Australians. The US Embassy
in Manila, meanwhile, said in a statement that
Usman has links to regional radical terror group
Jemaah Islamiah and is responsible for various
bombings on the southern Philippine island of
Mindanao.
The US has partially justified
its campaign against the Abu Sayyaf on grounds
that the group previously received funding from
Mohammad Jamal Khalifa, the brother-in-law of
al-Qaeda's Osama bin Laden, whose alleged
long-term plan is to establish a network of
radical Islamic missionary groups across the
Philippines.
The recent assassinations and
arrests mark the latest setback for the fading
insurgent group, which before making the United
States' list of global terror organizations in
2001 was more renowned for its frequent
kidnappings, extortions and violent penchant for
beheading Filipino soldiers. The group's
religious-zealot founder, Abdurajak Janjalani, cut
his teeth as a mercenary in the 1980s fighting
against Soviet forces in Afghanistan and
established Abu Sayyaf in 1991 as a radical
offshoot of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The group earned its violent reputation
after leading a raid in April 1995 on the
Christian town of Ipil, where allegedly hundreds
of civilians and several police officials were
killed on apparent sectarian lines. Abdurajak was
killed in a gun battle with Philippine security
forces in 1998 and Kaddafy soon thereafter took
over the group's leadership.
In December
2003, Philippine troops captured Ghalib Andang,
alias "Commander Robot", who was instrumental in
the kidnapping of 21 tourists that raked in as
much as US$10 million in ransoms. Several other
senior group members, including Janjalani's other
brother, Hector, have been captured or have
surrendered since the US doled out hundreds of
millions of dollars to train, support and arm
Philippine troops to pursue the group since 2001.
Mere mortals President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo has said the recent
assassinations represent a "mortal turning point"
for the Abu Sayyaf, which claims to be fighting
for a separate Muslim state in the island nation's
southern regions. But over the group's 15-year
campaign of terror, it has proved more adept at
securing huge ransoms than at realizing its
alleged irredentist ambitions.
US
President George W Bush called to congratulate
Arroyo for her military's recent string of
successes against the alleged terror group. The US
and the Philippines have announced plans to
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
