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| Southeast Asia |
| Abu Sayyaf now recruiting Christians |
| 2005-09-22 |
| AL-QAEDA-linked Abu Sayyaf militants have recruited about 100 mostly Christian men from two Mindanao provinces since July, offering them money to help stage attacks, according to a military report. The recruits were to be used for unspecified "sabotage operations" in Zamboanga City, said the military intelligence report seen by reporters yesterday. Predominantly Christian Zamboanga, the seat of the military's Southern Command and venue of ongoing US antiterrorism exercises, has come under deadly bomb attacks by the Abu Sayyaf in recent years. At least two of the group's leaders wanted by the US government, Abu Sulaiman and Albader Parad, led the recruitment of the men from Zamboanga and the nearby Basilan province, offering them P10,000 to P30,000, said the report, without specifying if the amounts were one-time or monthly payments. Abu Sayyaf guerrillas used to be based in Basilan until US-backed offensives three years ago forced them to flee to nearby islands and provinces. A recent three-month massive military manhunt, backed at times by US surveillance aircraft, failed to nab the group's chieftain, Khaddafy Janjalani, and his men in Maguindanao province. Aside from Zamboanga and Basilan, the Abu Sayyaf also has been trying to recruit members in Maguindanao and Jolo province, the report said. In early 2000, the group's strength reached more than 1,000 when its various factions staged several high-profile kidnappings for ransom in Mindanao. But US-backed offensives have whittled it down to more than 400, military officials say. The group, which is on a US list of terrorist organizations, has been blamed for many acts of banditry and attacks, including the bombing of an inter-island ferry that killed 116 last year in the country's worst terrorist attack. Janjalani has been trying to wean the group away from banditry, make it more religious-oriented and lethal by seeking bomb-making and religious training for his members and recruits from Indonesian militants belonging to Jemaah Islamiyah, according to government security reports. The Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah, believed to be al-Qaeda's major ally in Southeast Asia, has been blamed for most bombings in the region. Janjalani is believed to be on the run with a number of alleged Jemaah Islamiyah militants, including Pitono, also known as Dulmatin, and Umar Patek in Maguindanao, the reports said. The two Indonesians, who have reportedly provided religious and bomb-making training to Filipino and Indonesian militants, are wanted by the Indonesian government for their alleged role in the 2002 Bali nightclub attacks that killed 202 people. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 I think the correct term here would be 'Hired' not 'Recruited'..... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-09-22 08:48 |