ZAMBOANGA CITY – Over a dozen Abu Sayyaf terrorists surrendered to the military in Sulu province with security officials offering possible amnesty despite the group’s notoriety and ruthless campaign in the volatile Muslim region.
Showing posts with label Hajan Sawadjaan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hajan Sawadjaan. Show all posts
Sunday, January 17, 2021
Monday, September 28, 2020
Sayyaf killed in Sulu; bomber captured in Zamboanga (WARNING: Contains graphic images)
ZAMBOANGA CITY – Army soldiers killed an Abu Sayyaf fighter in a clash Monday in Sulu province while a bomber was captured in Zamboanga City, all in southern Philippines, officials said.
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Wounded Sulu soldiers awarded medals, receive financial assistance
SULU – Governor Sakur Tan visited Saturday over a
dozen wounded soldiers who clashed with Abu Sayyaf gunmen at a military
hospital in the capital town of Jolo and handed them financial assistance, and
condoling with security officials and troops for the brutal killings of 11 infantrymen in
Sulu’s Patikul town.
Sunday, April 5, 2020
Troops clash with Sayyaf in Sulu
SULU - Troops clashed with Abu Sayyaf militants in the
southern Philippine province of Sulu where security forces continue to hunt
down the pro-ISIS group.
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
Rangers, Sayyafs clash in Sulu
SULU – Security forces clashed with Abu Sayyaf militants in Sulu, one of
5 provinces under the troubled Muslim autonomous region in southern
Philippines, officials said Wednesday.
Sunday, March 1, 2020
Troops push for the kill in Sulu
SULU – Military forces continue its assault on Abu Sayyaf lairs in the southern Filipino province of Sulu where fighting killed at least 2 militants and also wounded two soldiers, officials said.
Monday, February 24, 2020
Military assault kills 2 Sayyaf in Sulu
SULU – Military forces continue its assault on Abu Sayyaf
lairs in the southern Filipino province of Sulu where fighting killed at least
2 militants and also wounded two soldiers, officials said.
Sunday, May 19, 2019
Dutch hostage joins Sayyaf in Philippines
SULU - Philippine police say a Dutch hostage of the Abu Sayyaf has joined the notorious pro-ISIS terrorist group 7 years after he and Swiss wildlife photagrapher were captured in the southern province of Tawi-Tawi.
In February 2012, Abu Sayyaf militants under Hajan Sawadjaan and suspected Moro National Liberation Front members kidnapped Lorenzo Vinciguerra, from Switzerland; and Ewold Horn, 54, from Holland, in the coastal village of Parangan in Panglima Sugala town in Tawi-Tawi.
Vinciguerra had escaped from his guards and recovered by soldiers in December 2014 after he allegedly killed one of his guards - Juhurim Hussien - with a bolo.
Police released to the Mindanao Examiner photos of abducted Dutch and a Swiss wildlife photographers Ewold Horn, 52, from Holland, and Lorenzo Vinciguerre, 47, of Switzerland. The duo was taken by gunmen on February 1, 2012 in the town of Panglima Sugala in Tawi-Tawi province in the southern Philippines. (Library Photo)
Horn, according to Sulu police commander Pablo Labra, has developed Stockholm syndrome, a condition which causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity.
"We received information that he has developed Stockholm syndrome and has been spotted carrying a weapon," Labra told The Zamboanga Post.
It was not immediately known whether Horn had fought security forces side by side with the Abu Sayyaf. "We really don't know if he had fought troops, but if he engages security forces and the lives of our troops are put in grave danger then we have no other recourse but to fight back," he said.
Labra said police forces continue to search for Horn and other foreign captives and at the same time maintain the operation against the Abu Sayyaf. "The operation against the Abu Sayyaf is continuing," he said.
Philippine authorities blamed the Abu Sayyaf and ISIS in the twin suicide bombings of a Catholic cathedral in Sulu's capital town of Jolo early this year. The attacks, carried out by an Indonesian couple, had killed and injured dozens of people, mostly soldiers guarding the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on January 27.
The remains now of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in sulu's capital town of Jolo in this photo taken May 12, 2019. (The Zamboanga Post)
The bombings on the church occurred 2 years after hundreds of Abu Sayyaf and pro-ISIS militants and civilian supporters took over Marawi City in Lanao del Sur province. The city was recovered by troops after 5 months of house-to-house and close-quarter battle that killed and wounded hundreds of soldiers, militants and innocent civilians trapped in Marawi.
President Rodrigo Duterte also recently warned foreigners to stay out of Zamboanga following intelligence report that ISIS and Abu Sayyaf militants are targeting foreign nationals. “There’s a certain place which I would not recommend to anybody to go there, not just as yet, is Zamboanga. Some Europeans go there for the bird watching and they are captured and eventually they are decapitated even after the payment of ransom. It is the ISIS actually. It used to be the Abu Sayyaf.
Now it’s an Abu Sayyaf territory. They do nothing but to kill and destroy,” he said, but Duterte may have confused Zamboanga to Tawi-Tawi when he said that some Europeans birdwatchers were kidnapped there. (The Zamboanga Post)
President Rodrigo Duterte also recently warned foreigners to stay out of Zamboanga following intelligence report that ISIS and Abu Sayyaf militants are targeting foreign nationals. “There’s a certain place which I would not recommend to anybody to go there, not just as yet, is Zamboanga. Some Europeans go there for the bird watching and they are captured and eventually they are decapitated even after the payment of ransom. It is the ISIS actually. It used to be the Abu Sayyaf.
Now it’s an Abu Sayyaf territory. They do nothing but to kill and destroy,” he said, but Duterte may have confused Zamboanga to Tawi-Tawi when he said that some Europeans birdwatchers were kidnapped there. (The Zamboanga Post)
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Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Duterte tells foreigners to stay out of Zamboanga, warns of possible terror attacks
ZAMBOANGA CITY - President Rodrigo Duterte has warned foreigners to stay out of Zamboanga following a credible intelligence report that ISIS and Abu Sayyaf militants are targeting the southern Philippine city.
Addressing the participants to the 7th Union Asia Pacific Regional Conference in Pasay City, Duterte was quoted by ABS-CBN as saying: “There’s a certain place which I would not recommend to anybody to go there, not just as yet, is Zamboanga. Some Europeans go there for the bird watching and they are captured and eventually they are decapitated even after the payment of ransom.”
“It is the ISIS actually. It used to be the Abu Sayyaf. Now it’s an Abu Sayyaf territory. They do nothing but to kill and destroy,” he added.
But Duterte may have been confused Zamboanga City to Tawi-Tawi province when he said that some Europeans birdwatchers were kidnapped and eventually decapitated by militants.
There had been no kidnappings of foreign birdwatchers in Zamboanga City but in February 2012, Abu Sayyaf militants under Hajan Sawadjaan and suspected Moro National Liberation Front members kidnapped two European wildlife photographers Lorenzo Vinciguerra, from Switzerland; and Ewold Horn, 54, from Holland, in the coastal village of Parangan in Panglima Sugala town in Tawi-Tawi.
Vinciguerra had escaped from his guards and recovered by soldiers in December 2014 after he allegedly killed one of his guards - Juhurim Hussien - with a bolo. The fate of Horn is still unknown.
Philippine authorities blamed the Abu Sayyaf and ISIS in the twin suicide bombings of a Catholic cathedral in Jolo town in Sulu province early this year. The attacks, carried out by an Indonesian couple, had killed and injured dozens of people, mostly soldiers guarding the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on January 27.
The attacks on the church occurred 2 years after hundreds of Abu Sayyaf and pro-ISIS militants and civilian supporters took over Marawi City in Lanao del Sur province. The city was recovered by troops after 5 months of house-to-house and close-quarter battle that killed and wounded hundreds of soldiers, militants and innocent civilians trapped in Marawi.
In July 2018, a Moroccan ISIS suicide bomber, Abu Katheer al Maghribi, also detonated a van filled with explosives in Lamitan City in Basilan province, about 35 nautical miles south of Zamboanga.
Philippine authorities said 11 people were killed in the explosion at a security checkpoint after government militias stopped the suspicious vehicle in Bulanting village, about 2 kilometers away from downtown Lamitan.
The powerful explosion obliterated the vehicle and left a huge crater and among those killed were a woman and a child; and the militia commander whose unit is under the supervision of the army. Five soldiers and several civilians were also wounded in the explosion. The bomber came from a nearby town and heading to downtown Lamitan when his vehicle was stopped at the checkpoint.
Duterte’s warning came after ISIS suicide bombers struck churches and hotels in Sri Lanka that killed over 300 people on Easter Sunday.
Zamboanga Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco Salazar said security is tight in the city and assured locals that police and military forces are in heightened alert. “We heightened the security in the city of Zamboanga and we continue to maintain a heightened level of alert as a pre-emptive measure following the Sri Lanka bombings,” she said.
Police said it is maintaining a high level of alert in Zamboanga, especially in places of worships, according to its spokesperson, Captain Shellamae Chang.
“Even before the Sri Lanka incidents, security forces have always secured places of worship in the city, deploying personnel in mosques on Friday, and for churches every Sunday. It is not just Christians and Muslims watching themselves, we watch over each other,” Chang said, citing the contribution of Christian and Muslim volunteer groups that help watch over each other in their respective places of worship.
City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Officer Dr. Elmeir Apolinario said the local government and security forces conduct a series of meetings to thresh out details of a security group charged with securing churches and mosques following directives from Salazar.
Dubbed as pastoral security group, Apolinario said it is composed of members of security forces and leaders of different religious organizations to assure and assist in the protection of the worshipers. (The Zamboanga Post)
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Addressing the participants to the 7th Union Asia Pacific Regional Conference in Pasay City, Duterte was quoted by ABS-CBN as saying: “There’s a certain place which I would not recommend to anybody to go there, not just as yet, is Zamboanga. Some Europeans go there for the bird watching and they are captured and eventually they are decapitated even after the payment of ransom.”
“It is the ISIS actually. It used to be the Abu Sayyaf. Now it’s an Abu Sayyaf territory. They do nothing but to kill and destroy,” he added.
But Duterte may have been confused Zamboanga City to Tawi-Tawi province when he said that some Europeans birdwatchers were kidnapped and eventually decapitated by militants.
There had been no kidnappings of foreign birdwatchers in Zamboanga City but in February 2012, Abu Sayyaf militants under Hajan Sawadjaan and suspected Moro National Liberation Front members kidnapped two European wildlife photographers Lorenzo Vinciguerra, from Switzerland; and Ewold Horn, 54, from Holland, in the coastal village of Parangan in Panglima Sugala town in Tawi-Tawi.
Vinciguerra had escaped from his guards and recovered by soldiers in December 2014 after he allegedly killed one of his guards - Juhurim Hussien - with a bolo. The fate of Horn is still unknown.
Suicide Bombers
The attacks on the church occurred 2 years after hundreds of Abu Sayyaf and pro-ISIS militants and civilian supporters took over Marawi City in Lanao del Sur province. The city was recovered by troops after 5 months of house-to-house and close-quarter battle that killed and wounded hundreds of soldiers, militants and innocent civilians trapped in Marawi.
In July 2018, a Moroccan ISIS suicide bomber, Abu Katheer al Maghribi, also detonated a van filled with explosives in Lamitan City in Basilan province, about 35 nautical miles south of Zamboanga.
Philippine authorities said 11 people were killed in the explosion at a security checkpoint after government militias stopped the suspicious vehicle in Bulanting village, about 2 kilometers away from downtown Lamitan.
The powerful explosion obliterated the vehicle and left a huge crater and among those killed were a woman and a child; and the militia commander whose unit is under the supervision of the army. Five soldiers and several civilians were also wounded in the explosion. The bomber came from a nearby town and heading to downtown Lamitan when his vehicle was stopped at the checkpoint.
Duterte’s warning came after ISIS suicide bombers struck churches and hotels in Sri Lanka that killed over 300 people on Easter Sunday.
Tight Security
Police said it is maintaining a high level of alert in Zamboanga, especially in places of worships, according to its spokesperson, Captain Shellamae Chang.
“Even before the Sri Lanka incidents, security forces have always secured places of worship in the city, deploying personnel in mosques on Friday, and for churches every Sunday. It is not just Christians and Muslims watching themselves, we watch over each other,” Chang said, citing the contribution of Christian and Muslim volunteer groups that help watch over each other in their respective places of worship.
City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Officer Dr. Elmeir Apolinario said the local government and security forces conduct a series of meetings to thresh out details of a security group charged with securing churches and mosques following directives from Salazar.
Dubbed as pastoral security group, Apolinario said it is composed of members of security forces and leaders of different religious organizations to assure and assist in the protection of the worshipers. (The Zamboanga Post)
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Saturday, April 13, 2019
Troops comb Sulu’s jungles, islands in Sayyaf hunt
SULU – Government troops continue their assault on Abu Sayyaf lairs where security forces have been combing the hinterlands and islands in the southern province of Sulu.
Just recently, soldiers killed 2 pro-ISIS militants, but three infantrymen were also wounded in the clashes in Bangkal village in Patikul town.
The military said one of those killed, known only by his alias Barak Ingog, allegedly helped carry out a twin suicide attacks by an Indonesian couple on a Catholic church in the capital town of Jolo in January this year that killed and wounded dozens of people, mostly civilians and soldiers. The other slain militant, Nasser Sawadjaan, was a nephew of Abu Sayyaf leader Hajan Sawadajaan.
The military did not say whether soldiers recovered the bodies of the slain militants, although it reported that troops recovered an M16 rifle in the area. It said Ingog was one of the facilitators of the bombing of the Cathedral in Jolo town on January 27 this year while Sawadjaan was a nephew of Abu Sayyaf leader Hajan Sawadjaan.
There were no reports of civilian casualties, but Governor Toto Tan has deployed social workers and dispatched food aid since March to assist villagers who were affected by the military campaign. It was unknown whether the regional government had sent aid to Sulu, one of 5 provinces under the newly-created Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. (The Zamboanga Post)
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Friday, April 12, 2019
Fighting erupts in Sulu
ZAMBOANGA CITY – Three more soldiers were wounded in fierce clashes with Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern Filipino province of Sulu and bringing the casualties to 5 as fighting continues Friday, the military said.
The Western Mindanao Command said soldiers also recovered 2 bodies of slain militants in Panglayahan village in Patikul town where troops clashed Thursday with some 120 Abu Sayyaf gunmen under Radulan Sahiron and Hajan Sawadjaan.
Security forces also battled about 80 more militants in Kabbon Takas village, also in Patikul, later in the day. And the military claimed that 10 more militants were killed and many more wounded, but no cadavers were recovered by soldiers, except for 2 bodies.
On Thursday, the military said 2 soldiers were also wounded in the fighting. And early this week, soldiers also clashed in Patikul and killed 2 militants, one of them Barak Ingog, helped facilitate twin suicide attacks by an Indonesian ISIS couple on a Catholic church in the capital town of Jolo in January.
The bombings killed and wounded dozens of people, mostly civilians and soldiers. The other slain gunman, Nasser Sawadjaan, was a nephew of Sawadajaan.
Security forces mounted massive operations in Sulu since early this year as part of President Duterte's order to the military to destroy the Abu Sayyaf, whose leaders pledged allegiance with ISIS.
The operations had resulted in the recovery of 2 Indonesian and a Malaysian fisherman held by the Abu Sayyaf on Simisa Island off Sulu. However, two of the hostages, Malaysian Jari Abdullah, eventually died in hospital in Zamboanga City from a gunshot wound, and Hariadin drowned while escaping the fighting between troops and militants. (The Zamboanga Post)
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The Western Mindanao Command said soldiers also recovered 2 bodies of slain militants in Panglayahan village in Patikul town where troops clashed Thursday with some 120 Abu Sayyaf gunmen under Radulan Sahiron and Hajan Sawadjaan.
Security forces also battled about 80 more militants in Kabbon Takas village, also in Patikul, later in the day. And the military claimed that 10 more militants were killed and many more wounded, but no cadavers were recovered by soldiers, except for 2 bodies.
On Thursday, the military said 2 soldiers were also wounded in the fighting. And early this week, soldiers also clashed in Patikul and killed 2 militants, one of them Barak Ingog, helped facilitate twin suicide attacks by an Indonesian ISIS couple on a Catholic church in the capital town of Jolo in January.
The bombings killed and wounded dozens of people, mostly civilians and soldiers. The other slain gunman, Nasser Sawadjaan, was a nephew of Sawadajaan.
Security forces mounted massive operations in Sulu since early this year as part of President Duterte's order to the military to destroy the Abu Sayyaf, whose leaders pledged allegiance with ISIS.
The operations had resulted in the recovery of 2 Indonesian and a Malaysian fisherman held by the Abu Sayyaf on Simisa Island off Sulu. However, two of the hostages, Malaysian Jari Abdullah, eventually died in hospital in Zamboanga City from a gunshot wound, and Hariadin drowned while escaping the fighting between troops and militants. (The Zamboanga Post)
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Sunday, April 7, 2019
Troops recover bodies of slain Sayyaf fighter
ZAMBOANGA CITY – Government troops pursuing Abu Sayyaf militants on the southern island of Simisa off Sulu province have recovered 3 bodies of suspected gunmen killed in fighting as security forces combed Sunday forested areas where the terrorist group is hiding, the military said.
It said soldiers also recovered two rifles and ammunition in the area where the bodies had been found. They also destroyed a boat being used by the Abu Sayyaf in the mangrove areas of Simisa Island.
There was no report of fresh fighting on the island, but the military deployed a huge number of soldiers in Simisa to “seek and destroy” the terrorists blamed for cross-border ransom kidnappings off Sabah in Malaysia.
Government forces on the island had rescued an Indonesian Heri Ardiansyah, 19, and a Malaysian fishermen Jari Abdullah, 24, - held captive since last year by the Abu Sayyaf - but another Indonesian fisherman, Hariadin, 45, drowned while escaping from the fighting between soldiers and militants.
The trio was kidnapped in December by the Abu Sayyaf and brought them by boat on Simisa Island.
The rescued Indonesian and Malaysian fishermen and the body of Hariadin were brought to the Western Mindanao Command headquarters in Zamboanga City.
While the hunt for militants continue on the island, recent fighting on Sulu’s Patikul town had killed 3 soldiers and wounded over a dozen more after the army clashed with at least 50 militants led by Hajan Sawadjaan. The operation is still on going in the town’s hinterlands where the Abu Sayyaf fighters broke into smaller groups. The town is a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf. (The Zamboanga Post)
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It said soldiers also recovered two rifles and ammunition in the area where the bodies had been found. They also destroyed a boat being used by the Abu Sayyaf in the mangrove areas of Simisa Island.
There was no report of fresh fighting on the island, but the military deployed a huge number of soldiers in Simisa to “seek and destroy” the terrorists blamed for cross-border ransom kidnappings off Sabah in Malaysia.
Government forces on the island had rescued an Indonesian Heri Ardiansyah, 19, and a Malaysian fishermen Jari Abdullah, 24, - held captive since last year by the Abu Sayyaf - but another Indonesian fisherman, Hariadin, 45, drowned while escaping from the fighting between soldiers and militants.
The trio was kidnapped in December by the Abu Sayyaf and brought them by boat on Simisa Island.
The rescued Indonesian and Malaysian fishermen and the body of Hariadin were brought to the Western Mindanao Command headquarters in Zamboanga City.
While the hunt for militants continue on the island, recent fighting on Sulu’s Patikul town had killed 3 soldiers and wounded over a dozen more after the army clashed with at least 50 militants led by Hajan Sawadjaan. The operation is still on going in the town’s hinterlands where the Abu Sayyaf fighters broke into smaller groups. The town is a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf. (The Zamboanga Post)
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Saturday, April 6, 2019
Sayyaf Indon hostage dies, compatriot rescued by Filipino troops
ZAMBOANGA CITY – An Indonesian hostage by the pro-ISIS group Abu Sayyaf had died while his compatriot was rescued by Filipino soldiers during a firefight with militants on Simisa Island, about 30 nautical miles from the southern province of Sulu, officials said Saturday.
Officials said the 45-year Hariadin drowned while escaping from the fighting and his companion Heri Ardiansyah, 19, was recovered by soldiers. The duo along with Malaysian fisherman Jari Abdullah, 24, were kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf in December off Sabah and brought them to the forested island where security forces had been pursuing them since last month.
Abdullah was also recovered by soldiers on April 4 on the island following a firefight between security forces and militants.
“Troops from the Philippine Marine Ready Fleet Sulu rescued Indonesian captives Heri Ardiansyah and Hariadin after engaging three Abu Sayyaf militants under Najir Arik. Hariadin, however, died due to drowning.”
“The Joint Task Force Sulu said the engaged militants and the captives tried to swim across the channel towards Bangalao Island to escape from the pursuing troops when they were spotted by the roving sea patrols,” the Western Mindanao Command said.
It said 3 militants were killed by soldiers in the fighting and recovered their bodies and four automatic rifles and a grenade launcher. “The 10-minute gun battle further resulted in the deaths of three Abu Sayyaf militants and the seizure of several high-powered firearms, including two M14 rifles, two M16 rifles, and an M203 Grenade Launcher,” the military said.
The rescued Indonesian fisherman and the body of Hariadin were brought to the Western Mindanao Command headquarters in Zamboanga City. Security forces continue with the hunt for militants under Najir Arik on Simisa, according to Lt. Gen. Arnel Dela Vega, the regional military commander. “Marine troops constrict Abu Sayyaf’s movement with the all-out offensives launched to pound terrorists on the island,” he said.
While the hunt for militants continue on the island, fierce fighting on Sulu’s Patikul town had killed 3 soldiers and wounded over a dozen more on Friday after the army clashed with at least 50 militants led by Hajan Sawadjaan.
The operation is still on going in the town’s hinterlands where the Abu Sayyaf fighters broke into smaller groups. The town is a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf. (Mindanao Examiner and The Zamboanga Post)
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Friday, April 5, 2019
Fresh fighting in Sulu leaves 16 army casualties
SULU – Fresh fighting between pro-ISIS militants and government troops erupted Friday in the southern Filipino province of Sulu, leaving at least 16 casualties on the military side.
The military’s Western Mindanao Command said soldiers from the 5th Scout Ranger Battalion engaged in ferocious battle with about 50 Abu Sayyaf gunmen under notorious commander Hahan Sawadjaan in Patikul town’s Latih village.
“Heavy firefight ensued which resulted in the wounding of 13 rangers and the deaths of 3 others, while casualties on the enemy side are yet to be determined. Firefight continues as of this report,” it said in a bulletin.
No other details were made available by the military, but security forces had been battling Abu Sayyaf militants in various towns in the province where the gunmen had been holding several hostages, mostly foreigners kidnapped for ransom off Sabah in Malaysia.
The last fighting came a day after a Malaysian hostage Jari bin Abdullah, 24, was shot during clashes between soldiers and militants on Simisi Island off Banguingui town about 5, 100 kilometers away from Patikul.
Marine soldiers recovered Abdullah and he was brought to a military base in Sulu’s capital town of Jolo, but his condition remains unknown. The Abu Sayyaf previously threatened to execute Abdullah along with two other Indonesian fishermen Heri Ardiansyah, 19, and Hariadin, 45, if their governments or employer fail to pay ransoms running into millions of pesos.
The militants are believed to be holding nearly a dozen captives, mostly foreigners. Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Omar Mammah said authorities were working with their Philippine counterparts to secure the release of the hostages who were kidnapped at sea off Sandakan in Sabah on December 5, 2018. (Mindanao Examiner)
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The military’s Western Mindanao Command said soldiers from the 5th Scout Ranger Battalion engaged in ferocious battle with about 50 Abu Sayyaf gunmen under notorious commander Hahan Sawadjaan in Patikul town’s Latih village.
“Heavy firefight ensued which resulted in the wounding of 13 rangers and the deaths of 3 others, while casualties on the enemy side are yet to be determined. Firefight continues as of this report,” it said in a bulletin.
No other details were made available by the military, but security forces had been battling Abu Sayyaf militants in various towns in the province where the gunmen had been holding several hostages, mostly foreigners kidnapped for ransom off Sabah in Malaysia.
The last fighting came a day after a Malaysian hostage Jari bin Abdullah, 24, was shot during clashes between soldiers and militants on Simisi Island off Banguingui town about 5, 100 kilometers away from Patikul.
Marine soldiers recovered Abdullah and he was brought to a military base in Sulu’s capital town of Jolo, but his condition remains unknown. The Abu Sayyaf previously threatened to execute Abdullah along with two other Indonesian fishermen Heri Ardiansyah, 19, and Hariadin, 45, if their governments or employer fail to pay ransoms running into millions of pesos.
The militants are believed to be holding nearly a dozen captives, mostly foreigners. Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Omar Mammah said authorities were working with their Philippine counterparts to secure the release of the hostages who were kidnapped at sea off Sandakan in Sabah on December 5, 2018. (Mindanao Examiner)
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Friday, February 22, 2019
How the new leader of the Islamic State group in Philippines went from peasant to chief
'The rapid rise of the mysterious new leader of Islamic State in the Philippines responsible for a spate of bombings and suicide attacks on Australia's doorstep.'
THE TOUTED new leader of the Islamic State group in the southern Philippines is an 'elderly villager' who rose up the ranks after dozens of high-ranking terrorists were wiped out.
Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, a Jolo-based commander of the brutal Abu Sayyaf extremist group, was installed as ISIS chief in a ceremony last year.
Sawadjaan is said to be responsible for the deadly attack on a Roman Catholic church in Jolo on January 27. The bombing, which killed 23 people and wounded about 100 others, and another suspected suicide bombing on nearby Basilan Island last July that officials said he masterminded, put Sawadjaan in the crosshairs of the U.S.-led global campaign against terrorism.
Not much is known about the new terrorist leader, but unlike many of his slain comrades, Sawadjaan, who was born to a peasant family, lacks the bravado, clan name or foreign training.
His reign also comes at a time when the Islamic State group's last enclave in eastern Syria is near its imminent downfall, signaling an end to the territorial rule of the self-declared 'caliphate' that once stretched across much of Syria and Iraq.
A recent U.S. Department of Defense report to Congress said it believed Sawadjaan was the 'acting emir,' or leader, of ISIS in the Philippines. It added that no actual leader is confirmed to have been designated by the main ISIS command in the Middle East as of late last year.
Philippine Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano, however, said intelligence indicated that Sawadjaan, assumed position as leader last year.
Sawadjaan was previously a part of the Abu Sayyaf. Founded in the early 1990s as an offshoot of the decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion in the south, the group lost its commanders early in battle, sending it to a violent path of terrorism and criminality. It has been blacklisted, along with ISIS-linked local groups, as a terrorist organization by the United States.
Now in his 60s, Sawadjaan is a late bloomer in the terrorism underworld. His turn at the helm came after dozens of commanders, some initially aligned with the al-Qaida movement and later with ISIS, were killed or captured in decades of military offensives.
The biggest battle loss came in 2017 when several foreign and local commanders were killed as troops quelled a five-month siege by hundreds of militants in southern Marawi city. Among those killed was Isnilon Hapilon, a fierce Abu Sayyaf leader, who was the first ISIS-designated leader in the Philippines.
'I think Sawadjaan rose in rank because of seniority and there were no other leaders left. Almost everyone had been wiped out,' said Ano, a former military chief who oversaw the Marawi offensives and now supervises the national police as interior secretary.
Largely confined to Jolo's poverty-wracked mountain settlements all his life, Sawadjaan was not the well-connected and media-savvy strategist foreign groups would normally ally with to expand their reach. His rise shows how ISIS would latch on desperately to any militant who could provide a sanctuary and armed fighters as its last strongholds crumble in Syria, Ano said.
'For the ISIS to perpetuate their terror actions, they need a base, they need people. That's the role of Sawadjaan,' Ano told AP in an interview.
He estimated that Sawadjaan commands about 200 combatants and followers.
Sawadjaan was born to a peasant family in predominantly Muslim Jolo and only likely finished grade school.
Poverty drove him to work as a lumberjack in the jungles off Patikul town, where he married a woman from Tanum, the mountain village where he would base his Abu Sayyaf faction years later, a military officer, who has closely monitored the Abu Sayyaf, told the AP on condition of anonymity because of the nature of his work.
As an elderly villager, he served as a local mosque preacher, earning him the religious sobriquet 'hatib,' or sermon leader in Arabic, the officer said.
Sawadjaan first took up arms as a member of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) the largest Muslim secessionist group in the south of the largely Roman Catholic country, which went on to sign a 1996 Muslim autonomy deal with the government, according to the officer.
His commander was Radulan Sahiron, the locally popular one-armed rebel who broke away from the MNLF in 1992. They joined the Abu Sayyaf, which had just been organized by a Libyan-educated local militant, said MNLF leader Yusop Jikiri.
Sawadjaan would later part ways with Sahiron, including over Sahiron's refusal to accomodate foreign militants for fear they're a magnet for military airstrikes, said Abu Jihad, a former militant who has met Sawadjaan and was captured by troops.
Abu Jihad described Sawadjaan as a folksy village elderly, who constantly lugged an M-16 rifle in his hinterland community but was friendly to visitors.
When fellow militants kidnapped a visiting American Muslim convert, Jeffrey Schilling, for ransom in August 2000, Sawadjaan stayed in the background but helped gather bamboos that were used to build huts for the militants and their hostage, Abu Jihad said.
'He can discuss local issues but didn't have any wisdom on jihad,' he told AP by phone, referring to the militants' concept of holy war. 'He's very accommodating. He's the type who will not be hard to sway.'
Sawadjaan collaborated with diverse outlaws, both Islamic extremists and brigands, Ano said.
He harbored the foreign couple, believed to be Indonesians, who detonated the bombs in the Jolo cathedral last month, as well as a militant believed to be Arab known as Abu Kathir al-Maghribi, who died in the van blast that also killed 10 government militiamen and villagers in Basilan last year, Ano added.
A video obtained by police officials showed al-Maghribi in Sawadjaan's camp last year before the foreign militant reportedly carried out the suicide attack in Basilan. The video was seen by The AP.
His daughter married a Malaysian militant known as Amin Baco, who has ISIS connections. His younger brother, Asman, also belonged to the Abu Sayyaf, according to a confidential police profile of Sawadjaan.
Sawadjaan and his men would later be implicated in the kidnappings of a German couple, two Canadian men, Schilling and a Jordanian journalist, Baker Atyani. Most were ransomed off or escaped but the Canadian men were separately beheaded on video by one of Sawadjaan's militant nephews, Ben Yadah, according to military and police officials.
In the more than a year of jungle captivity under Sawadjaan's group starting in June 2012, Atyani got a deep insight into the Abu Sayyaf and the man who sheltered other militants from Indonesia and Malaysia and fostered banditry in the blurry underworld of Islamic extremism in the volatile south. Atyani is believed to have been freed in exchange for ransom.
'It's all money-driven, it's not an ideology,' Atyani said. 'However, he has sympathy for those who are allegedly fighting for a cause.' (AP)
Monday, November 19, 2018
6 Sayyaf fighters yield in Sulu
SULU – Six Abu Sayyaf fighters surrendered Monday to government troops in the southern Filipino province of Sulu, officials said.
Lt. Col. Gerry Besana, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command, said the militants yielded to the 2nd Special Forces Battalion under Lt. Col. Jessie Montoya in Talipao town.
They also handed over 6 rifles and were being interrogated at the army headquarters also in Talipao.
Besana identified the militants as Annuar Dalawis, Arsi Akili, Nassal Asaral, Alvarez Sadjan, Aysal Ajaral and Medzmar Mursin.
“They voluntarily surrendered through the efforts of the different community support program teams of the battalion,” he said.
Lt. Gen. Arnel dela Vega, the regional military commander, lauded the troops for their efforts in convincing the militants to surrender peacefully as he urged other members of the Abu Sayyaf to return to the fold of the law.
“We hope that more bandits will decide to surrender instead of risking their lives and engaging themselves in deadly encounters with troops,” he said.
Five soldiers had died and over 2 dozen injured in recent clashes in Sulu’s Patikul town where a militant leader, Hajan Sawadjaan, is believed wounded in the battle. (Mindanao Examiner)
Lt. Col. Gerry Besana, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command, said the militants yielded to the 2nd Special Forces Battalion under Lt. Col. Jessie Montoya in Talipao town.
They also handed over 6 rifles and were being interrogated at the army headquarters also in Talipao.
Besana identified the militants as Annuar Dalawis, Arsi Akili, Nassal Asaral, Alvarez Sadjan, Aysal Ajaral and Medzmar Mursin.
“They voluntarily surrendered through the efforts of the different community support program teams of the battalion,” he said.
Lt. Gen. Arnel dela Vega, the regional military commander, lauded the troops for their efforts in convincing the militants to surrender peacefully as he urged other members of the Abu Sayyaf to return to the fold of the law.
“We hope that more bandits will decide to surrender instead of risking their lives and engaging themselves in deadly encounters with troops,” he said.
Five soldiers had died and over 2 dozen injured in recent clashes in Sulu’s Patikul town where a militant leader, Hajan Sawadjaan, is believed wounded in the battle. (Mindanao Examiner)
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Saturday, November 17, 2018
Fresh Sulu fighting leaves 23 casualties
SULU – Security forces clashed with Abu Sayyaf militants leaving 23 casualties on the military side in the southern Filipino province of Sulu, reports said Saturday.
Radio network dzMM said the fierce fighting erupted in Patikul town where troops clashed with militants under Hajan Sawadjaan. It said four soldiers were killed and 19 more wounded in the battle.
There was no report of enemy casualties, but security forces have been battling the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu and Basilan in the restive Muslim autonomous region.
In May, three soldiers were also slain and 17 others wounded in fighting in Patikul’s hinterlands, a known str0nghold of the Abu Sayyaf, blamed by authorities for the spate of terrorism and ransom kidnappings in southern Philippines and Sabah.
That fighting also killed at least 11 militants, among them Sawadjaan’s brother Taha, according to the military.
The Abu Sayyaf is still holding several Filipino and foreign hostages and had freed three people in Sulu recently after receiving ransom from the victims’ families. (Mindanao Examiner)
Radio network dzMM said the fierce fighting erupted in Patikul town where troops clashed with militants under Hajan Sawadjaan. It said four soldiers were killed and 19 more wounded in the battle.
There was no report of enemy casualties, but security forces have been battling the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu and Basilan in the restive Muslim autonomous region.
In May, three soldiers were also slain and 17 others wounded in fighting in Patikul’s hinterlands, a known str0nghold of the Abu Sayyaf, blamed by authorities for the spate of terrorism and ransom kidnappings in southern Philippines and Sabah.
That fighting also killed at least 11 militants, among them Sawadjaan’s brother Taha, according to the military.
The Abu Sayyaf is still holding several Filipino and foreign hostages and had freed three people in Sulu recently after receiving ransom from the victims’ families. (Mindanao Examiner)
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