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MANILA, Philippines – Muslim rebels who have resumed peace talks with the Philippine government said Monday they were not behind a deadly jail break in the country's volatile south that freed 31 criminals and guerrillas, including militants accused of beheadings. About 70 attackers used a sledgehammer and bolt cutters Sunday to punch a hole in the provincial Basilan jail and spring 31 people, including alleged hard-core members of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group, officials said. A guard and one of the attackers were killed as security forces dispatched helicopters to help track down the fleeing inmates, said Basilan Vice Gov....

Note: The following text is a quote: Philippines: Jihad against school principals This just in from our "This Is Why You're Poor" Department. Allah promised paradise to those who "slay and are slain" in the cause of jihad (Qur'an 9:111), but shooting your own society in the foot is also quite popular as a consequence. "Islamic rebels behead Philippine teacher: police," from Agence France-Presse, November 8: ZAMBOANGA, Philippines -- The severed head of a school principal who was abducted by Islamic militants in the troubled southern Philippines was dumped in a petrol station on Monday, authorities said. The head of...

Abducted and held hostage by bloodthirsty Abu Sayyaf Islamic terrorists for a whole year, Gracia Burnham doesn't hold much back in her book: In The Presence of My Enemies.The Abu Sayyaf is an Islamic terrorist group in the southern Philippines with ties to Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.The horrible ordeal began in late May of 2001.Martin and Gracia Burnham were celebrating their 18th Wedding Anniversary at the Dos Palmas Resort, when they and several others were abducted and taken hostage by the Abu Sayyaf.They were forced to experience and witness the most cruel sufferings and humiliation. Of fellow hostages and themselves.Throughout the ordeal, as Gracia Burnham...

MANILA (Reuters) - One U.S. soldier was killed and another was wounded in a landmine explosion in the southern Philippines on Tuesday, a Philippine army spokesman said. Lieutenant-Colonel Romeo Brawner said three Filipino soldiers were also wounded when the vehicle they were riding in struck an improvised landmine near Indanan town on the island of Jolo, a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf militants.

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The military assault against fleeing bandits in Sulu is continuing even after soldiers have overran their main camp. Major General Benjamin D. Dolorfino, Western Mindanao Command chief, told BusinessWorld Sunday’s capture of the main Abu Sayyaf camp was a major blow to terrorism, citing the earlier capture of another main camp in neighboring Basilan province last August.... At least 17 bandits were immediately killed during the half-day clash, while others scattered and escaped. The bandits retaliated on Monday, ambushing a band of Marines who were headed to their base at 2 p.m. Eight soldiers and five bandits...

Eight Marine soldiers were killed Monday afternoon in an ambush staged by Abu Sayyaf bandits in the southern Philippine province of Sulu, military officials said. AFP public affairs office chief Lt. Col, Romeo Brawner Jr, said troops from the 4th Marine Battalion Landing Team were on their way to their base when they were waylaid by the Abu Sayyaf at Sitio Talatac in Bato-bato village around 1:30 p.m. Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan, head of the Marine Battalion Landing Team 4 (MBLT 4), said his men were able to return fire, resulting to the death of five bandits. “Five died on...

Ever since the bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, critics have contended that more people were involved than Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. A recent federal lawsuit alleges that Iraqi agents also played a role and McVeigh’s former defense attorney claims that prior to the bombing Nichols made contact with international terrorists. In a special report CBS 11’s Steve Narisi says the trail some investigators are following leads to the Philippines. “The U.S. Government has contended all along that any link between Nichols and Islamic extremists is strictly coincidental. During Nichols and McVeigh’s trial, the court didn’t allow...

Philippine troops suffered some of their worst losses in an offensive against al-Qaida-linked militants on a southern island in which at least 23 soldiers and 20 guerrillas were killed, officials said Thursday. Troops continued to scour the battlefield following clashes Wednesday with Abu Sayyaf militants in two of their jungle camps on Basilan Island, and the tally of slain guerrillas could rise, said regional military commander Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino. "It was a slugfest," Dolorfino told The Associated Press by telephone. "It was really close-quarter fighting so we couldn't use our artillery," he said, adding troops were pursuing small pockets...

MANILA, Philippines—The military Sunday vowed to crush the extremist Abu Sayyaf group by the end of the year. "We are confident we can handle this problem of the Abu Sayyaf," said Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. He said the military will launch an "all-out effort" to defeat the al-Qaida-linked group responsible for the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines. Following the release last week of Italian Eugenio Vagni, the last of three International Committee of the Red Cross workers abducted by the Abu Sayyaf on Jan. 15, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. ordered...

Last week, a Swiss prosecutor found former Kremlin aide and present Secretary General of the Union between Russia and Belarus, Pavel Borodin, guilty of money laundering. Prosecutor Bernard Bertossa convicted Borodin and ordered him to pay a fine of 300,000 Swiss francs ($177,000). Switzerland issued an international arrest warrant for Borodin in December 1999 on suspicion of laundering up to $30 million linked to a lucrative Kremlin renovation contract awarded to two Swiss-based construction companies. He was arrested in New York in January 2001 and extradited to Switzerland in early April. After spending a few days behind bars, he was...

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion. Arrest of Kenyan Exposes Massive Global Arms Trade The East African Africa News February 25, 2002 Monday Kenya L AST WEEKEND'S arrest of Kenyan-born Sanjivan Ruprah, who is alleged to be a part of a major arms smuggling operation to Africa, has brought into the open the extent of the multi-million dollar illegal business. The whereabouts of Bout remain unknown. Some media reports say he is in Moscow, while others say he is in the Congo or the United Arab Emirates. An international ...

Filipino Militants Behead Kidnapped Farmer: Police By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: May 17, 2009 ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AP) -- Philippine police recovered the severed head of a farm owner kidnapped by Muslim militants and authorities said Monday he was likely beheaded because his family failed to pay ransom. Doroteo Gonzales, 61, was snatched by gunmen April 25 from his house in southern Zamboanga city and brought to nearby Basilan Island, where al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf rebels are holding at least five other people in a surge of ransom kidnappings. The gunmen were believed to have links to the Abu Sayyaf, and Gonzales...

(UPDATE) ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - One of two foreign Red Cross workers being held captive by Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the southern Philippine province of Sulu was rescued early Saturday, official said. Swiss Andreas Notter was rescued by police and civilian auxiliaries early Saturday as his captors tried to spirit him out of a police cordon at around 5.30 a.m. in Indanan town, said Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, confirming earlier reports attributed to unnamed police officials. The Abu Sayyaf is still holding Italian Eugenio Vagni, but he was not with the group that held Notter, said the official, who asked...

Al-Qaeda-linked militants have killed two farmers, one of whom they kidnapped during an attack on a Christian village in the southern Philippines, officials said Monday.

MANILA, Philippines -- Not long ago, the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group was dismissed as all but dead, thanks to a much-heralded joint effort against terrorism by the U.S. and the Philippine military. Now there is fear that the Abu Sayyaf may be coming back. The group is blamed for a spate of kidnappings in recent months, including the latest -- that of a Sri Lankan peace worker on southern Basilan Island last month. Abu Sayyaf raised more than $1.5 million last year through ransoms, and its ranks rose to 400 members last year from 383 in 2007, a confidential government...

Gems, al-Qaida and murder. Mystery over killing of Osama Bin Laden's friend · Saudi man's death was political, say his family· US secret service was monitoring his activities Nick Fielding Friday March 2, 2007 The Guardian (UK) Pallbearers carry the coffin of Muhammad Jamal Khalifa at Ivato airport in Antananarivo, in Madagascar. Photograph: Jasleen Sethi/Reuters When Muhammad Jamal Khalifa was found dead at a remote gemstone mine in south-eastern Madagascar at the end of January, local police quickly put the murder down to a business deal gone wrong. The Saudi businessman, 49, had had to call in local police to...

Al Qaida linked Abu Sayyaf terrorist group is making a comeback. Terrorists are like cockroaches. Just when you think you have them eradicated, a new bunch reappear. The Al Qaida linked Abu Sayyaf terrorist group is making a resurgence in the Philippines. With US assistance,the Philippine military had this terrorst organization on the ropes in recent years. The Phillippines will need assistance once again to defeat Abu Sayyaf. With President Obama wanting to scale back military operations and spending, this assistance may not materialize.

<p>ARTICLE SNIPPET: ""When we met with the leadership of the MILF, they agreed that they had children in their midst and they agreed to enter into an action plan with a UN country team to ensure the separation of the children from their ranks and their return to civilian life," she said...</p>

How The West Was Won The rapid and unexpected decline of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq was officially recognized this week, when Maj. Gen. John Kelly, commanding the Marine Expeditionary Force, turned operational control of Anbar Province over to the Iraqi army and police. Anbar, a vast expanse of desert the size of North Carolina, had been the stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. For years, foreign fighters loyal to al-Qaida had sneaked across Iraq's northwestern border with Syria, into Anbar and down a "rat line" of safe houses in Haditha, Ramadi and Hit. From Fallujah, the arch terrorist Zarqawi...

8 Killed In New Bombing In Southern Philippines Monday, September 01, 2008 04:11:12 PM DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 1, 2008) – A homemade bomb explosion Monday ripped through a commuter bus, killing at least 8 people in the southern Philippines, where security forces are battling Moro rebels, officials said. Officials said the bombing targeted the bus owned by Metro Shuttle in Digos City in Davao del Sur province. At least seven people were seriously wounded in the attack. The bombing occurred at a bus depot shortly before 3 p.m., according to Army Col. Roland Bautista, of the...

Key bombing suspect deported from Bahrain By ARIS R. ILAGAN & YUL MALICSE One of the alleged masterminds of a ferry bombing that killed 116 people four years ago and the Makati Valentines Day bombing in 2005 was captured in Bahrain and deported to the Philippines, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, chairman of the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC), said yesterday.

(Updated 8:30 a.m.) A body believed to be that of Indonesian terrorist leader Dulmatin, wanted for the October 2002 Bali bombings, was recovered Monday afternoon by a joint military team in Tawi-Tawi province. Intelligence reports said the body was found 1:30 p.m. at the vicinity of Sitio Salisit in Balimbing village, Panglima Sugala town in Tawi-Tawi. "(The) said corpse was jointly identified by informants with notable wounds in the head, chest and right foot to include clothing in physical characteristics matched with previous revelations," the report said. The body was exhumed for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing for confirmation. Reached for...

An Italian priest, Giancarlo Bossi, who was kidnapped at gunpoint in the southern Philippines last month, has been freed. The news was announced by the Italian Prime Minister, Romano Prodi, and coincides with the 87th birthday of Father Bossi's mother. Fourteen government soldiers were killed last week as they searched for the priest. The Philippine army blamed their deaths on Islamists linked to al-Qaeda. Father Bossi, who plans to meet with his parishioners before heading back to Italy to see his family, said his captors treated him "with respect." "I never had the sensation that they wanted to kill...

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP) - Philippine troops have arrested a senior Islamic militant over the kidnap and killing of a group of tourists, including two Americans, in 2001, a military statement said Friday. Soldiers backed by police raided a hideout of the Al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf group in southern Margosatubig island on Thursday, the statement said. Troops arrested Abu Sayyaf commander Tuatin Anahaly and seized a cache of weapons including a pistol that he was carrying, near the city of Zamboanga. Anahaly has been on the run since a two-million-peso (48,700-dollar) bounty was placed on this head over his role in...

A senior Islamic militant, wanted by the US government, has been killed in a clash with the Philippine military in the nation's restive south, an official said Sunday. Abdul Mubin Sakandal, a leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, was killed during a joint navy and marine operation on the remote island of Tawi-Tawi, a military official said. Sakandal, also known as Abdurajak Mobin, had allegedly helped carry out a string of high-profile kidnappings of foreigners from resort islands in neighboring Malaysia and from the Philippine isle of Palawan. "Our naval elements neutralized Mobin ... during a dragnet operation at...

MANILA - A controversial Muslim congressman was the target of a powerful bomb blast outside the Philippine House of Representatives that killed him and two others, police said this morning. Wahab Akbar, one of the most influential figures in the Philippines' restive south, died in hospital last night as doctors fought to save his life. A driver and a congressional aide were also killed. Nine other people were injured in the blast, which hit the south lobby of the sprawling complex in the capital Manila just minutes after most congressmen had left for the evening. Manila police Chief Geary Barias...

This week the Pentagon released official figures on how dramatically the security situation has improved in Iraq. Terrorist attacks, secular violence, road-side bombings, Iraqi civilian deaths and U.S. casualties are all down. The announcement received scant notice from the so-called mainstream media. About the only news from the global war on radical Islamic terror to receive less attention this week was the erroneously headlined story on the Associated Press wire: “Army Captain from Fort Lewis, WA, Drowns in the Philippines.” The item immediately captured my attention for two reasons. First, the struggle against Islamic terror in the Philippines is the...

ISABELA, Philippines (Reuters) - Philippine special forces troops on Friday killed 11 members of the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim guerrilla group holding an American couple hostage on a southern island, officials said. Troops from the Light Reaction Company, a crack special forces team trained by the U.S. military, tracked down a band of Abu Sayyaf men on the outskirts of Isabela town and killed 11 of them in a 15-minute gunfight, Lieutenant-General Roy Cimatu told reporters. The bodies of two of the rebels were found while the retreating guerrillas took away the rest of the dead, said Cimatu, the ...

TAGBILARAN CITY—Police on Wednesday arrested a suspected Abu Sayyaf bomber on a ferry in Cebu on his way to Metro Manila with “enough explosives to kill hundreds of people,” an official said yesterday. Police arrested the man a day before President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo arrived in Bohol Thursday for the first Local Peace and Security Assembly. National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales described him as a Muslim in his early 20s. “I cannot divulge the name yet because the investigation is still ongoing,” Gonzales said. “We suspect that he is a member of the Abu Sayyaf and he was on his...

New video shows jihadists in Philipines training A video showing jihadists in what appears to be the Philipines has been advertised heavily on the Arabic language message boards. The video, which claims to have been produced by the Moro International Center, shows jihadists in the Philipines making statements and training. A full translation is in progress. A copy of the video can be downloaded from http://www.lauramansfield.com/philipine3.rm Translation: The Filipino Lions are Coming Last week's video from the jihidist groups in the Philipines entitled "The Filipino Lions Are Coming" shows old speeches by leaders of the Abu-Sayyaf Group, Abdurajik Janjalani, aka...

Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. on Thursday confirmed reports that a Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) operative wanted for the 2002 deadly bombing in Bali, Indonesia was injured in an encounter with Army troops last August 9 in Sulu province. Esperon said the military has received reliable information confirming that Indonesian terror suspect Dulmatin sustained injuries after fighting alongside Abu Sayyaf members against government troops in Maimbung town. Aside from Dulmatin, the military also believes that Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Doc Abu was wounded while his son was killed in the encounter. Dulmatin is a 32-year-old Indonesian electronics expert suspected...

Thousands of people have fled their homes on the southern Philippine island of Jolo as troops pursue Muslim militants blamed for killing more than 20 soldiers, officials said on Saturday. Jolo brigade commander Colonel Anthony Supnet said his troops would continue to hunt the gunmen, even though they had broken up into smaller groups and scattered into the hinterlands of Jolo. Supnet said the attackers were members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), a group that had signed a peace accord with the government in 1996, and the Abu Sayyaf, an extremist group not covered by the accord. He...

Thousands of civilians have fled their homes in the southern Philippine island of Jolo after deadly clashes between troops and militants, officials say. More than 50 people were killed on Thursday, almost half of them soldiers. Reinforcements have begun to arrive in Jolo, as the military steps up its campaign against Islamist rebels. Troops backed by US military trainers have been fighting militants affiliated to various groups, hiding in the island's mountainous terrain. Thursday's fighting began when a troop convoy was ambushed near the town of Maimburg, leaving 10 soldiers dead. Fifteen more soldiers were killed and 17 were wounded...

'Fifty dead' in Philippines clash More than 50 people have been killed in clashes between troops and Islamist militants in the southern Philippines, military officials say. The fighting, on Jolo island, began on Thursday when militants ambushed a military convoy, killing 10 soldiers. Fifteen more soldiers died in later gun battles, and at least 27 militants were killed, the military said. It blamed Islamic militant group Abu Sayyaf and rogue elements in the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). Thousands of Philippine troops, backed by US military trainers, are based in Jolo, some 950km (600 miles) south of the capital, Manila....

HISTORY - Time line [some] Important dates in radical ISLAM VS WORLD 1263 - 1328 The 'Godfather of Islamic Fundamentalism' Who is the True Godfather of Islamic Fundamentalism? His name is Ibn Taymiyyah, or Taq ad-Din Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah, and he lived from 1263 to 1328. His name by birth was Ahmad ibn Abdul-Halim ibn Abdas-Salaam. This individual could be considered as the real godfather of fundamentalism. Maududi borrowed extensively from Taymiyyah's writings. http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/index.php? id=1194248__________________1347 [The Bahmani sultans & genocide on Indians]The Muslim conquests, down to the 16th century, were for the Hindus a pure struggle of life and death....

Zamboanga City, 19 July (AKI) - In the latest in a series of macabre religious killings in the Philippines, a Muslim missionary has been killed on the island of Basilan, in the southern province of Mindanao. According to The Mindanao Examiner, the missionary, whose name has not been released, was believed to have been killed because he gave information to the authorities about the Islamic terrorist organisation, Abu Sayyaf. Officials said the preacher's mutilated body was found on Tuesday inside a sack in the village of Balagtasan. “We condemn the killing and authorities are now hunting the culprits behind the...

LAMITAN CITY [Philippines]-- They were returning to base in heavy rains after a fruitless search for kidnapped Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi when their trucks stalled in the mud. Then the firing began. In a 10-hour gun battle that turned into a carnage, 14 Marines were killed -- 10 of them beheaded -- and nine others wounded in one of the most shocking military debacles in years in the country’s southern islands. “They were surprised when bullets rained on them,” Brig. Gen. Ramiro Alivio told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, recounting Tuesday’s daylong clash between 50 badly outnumbered Marines and some 400...

Islamic militants in the southern Philippines have killed 14 marines, beheading 10 of them, a military spokesman has said. Nine other marines were wounded and at least four rebels were killed during the incident on Basilan island. The clash took place as the marines were searching for an Italian priest. The priest was seized in June by kidnappers believed to be from either Abu Sayyaf or the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Both groups are seeking an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines. Ceasefire violation? The priest, named as Giancarlo Bossi, was seized by armed men near the coastal village...

MANILA, Philippines (Reuters) -- The Abu Sayyaf, the smallest and most deadly Muslim militant group in the Philippines, has chosen a Syria-trained Islamic scholar as its new leader, a senior general said on Wednesday. Lieutenant-General Romeo Tolentino said the new militant leader, Yasser Igasan, was chosen three weeks ago after a straw poll by Abu Sayyaf field commanders at a rebel base on the southern island of Jolo. "We believed that Igasan has taken over the leadership due to his religious background," Tolentino told reporters after meeting U.S. military officials at the army's main base in Manila. "He's not new...

This is a partial transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," June 8, 2007,... SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: We go live now to the Philippines, where our own FOX News Channel's Colonel Oliver North is covering a major counter terror operation with a joint Philippine strike force and U.S. Special Op advisors on the hunt for the Islamic terror group .Colonel, what's happening?OLIVER NORTH, HOST, "WAR STORIES": Sean, today we went with U.S. Special Operations troops and Philippine troops to the scene of two recent battles with and rogue Moro National Liberation Front terrorists.For years, Islamic radicals have used this dense, triple canopy...

U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie A. Kenney distributed rewards to four Filipino citizens in a public ceremony on the island of Jolo today. A group of Filipino citizens, represented by the four present at the ceremony, will share the total reward of $10 million. This payment is the second largest of its kind by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security's Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program, the U.S. Department of State's counterterrorism rewards program. Two notorious high-ranking leaders of the Abu Sayyaf Group, Khadaffy Janjalani and Abu Solaiman, were killed as a result of information provided by Filipino sources. Both terrorists...

MANILA, Philippines - The U.S. ambassador to the Philippines handed over a $10 million reward Thursday to four Filipino informants whose tip led to the killing of the country's two top terror suspects, the U.S. Embassy said. It was the largest reward given so far by Washington in a campaign to wipe out al-Qaida-linked militants in the southern Philippines, where the U.S. military has been training and advising Filipino troops. The U.S. promised a reward of up to $5 million each for Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, who was slain in a September clash on southern Jolo island, and his...

(UPDATE 4) ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines -- Soldiers have taken into custody the four children of Indonesian bomb suspect Dulmatin during a raid in Simunul Island off Tawi-Tawi on Thursday evening, authorities said. Commodore Emilio Marayag, commander of Naval Forces South, said the children, aged 2,5,7 and 9, were found inside a house in Bacung village that was raided by a composite team of troops from the Second Marine Battalion, the Military Intelligence Group (MIG) 9, and the police Special Action Force (SAF). Marayag said the caretakers of the house, Nursitti and Kilsitta, were also taken into custody after the...

Sayyaf chief dies while in Navy’s custody An alleged Abu Sayyaf leader reportedly died while in the custody of naval personnel in Zamboanga City, where he was brought for interrogation, a military officer said Saturday. The officer, who requested not to be named, said Tandico Saddae reportedly succumbed in a hospital in Zamboanga, where he was brought after complaining of chest pains Friday night. Saddae reportedly tried to escape by jumping from a Navy ship while being brought to Zamboanga from Tawi-Tawi, where he was arrested.“He jumped after asking his guard to [untie] him so could pray. He tried to...

The al-Qaeda-linked Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels have decapitated seven hostages and sent their heads to the army in Jolo, in the southern Philippines archipelago of Sulu, the local press said on Friday quoting the military. The severed heads of six road project workers and one factory worker were delivered to two army outposts in Parang town on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, Thursday. The victims, all Christians, were working on a government road construction project in the city of Parang, Jolo, when they were abducted Tuesday by rebels led by commander Albader Parad. The Philiippine army said on...

JOLO, Philippines (Reuters) - Muslim extremists decapitated seven men they were holding hostage on the southern Philippine island of Jolo and sent the heads in sacks to two army detachments, the military said on Thursday. "This is a terrorist act that should be condemned by all," Major-General Ruben Rafael, commander of military forces on Jolo, said. Earlier, Rafael said his soldiers had discovered the headless bodies of six men close to Parang town, where they had been kidnapped on Monday by the Abu Sayyaf, the Philippines' deadliest Muslim rebel group. A seventh man was kidnapped in the area earlier that...

Six road workers kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf extremists were found beheaded Thursday in Jolo. The severed heads of the six mostly-Christian workers were found in the jungles of Jolo by soldiers, four days after the workers were seized while heading to a government road project, said Major General Ruben Rafael. The workers were seized by Al Bader Parad, a commander of the Abu Sayyaf, responsible for the worst terror attacks in Philippine history. One of the soldiers who found the remains said, on condition of anonymity, that the heads had been scattered in various places in Jolo. The soldier said...

The Philippine government and a Muslim rebel group have been urged to end a three-day battle that has left at least 12 people dead and displaced thousands.The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) called on both sides to abide by a 1996 peace agreement. Government troops and helicopter gunships pounded a base of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) on southern Jolo island at the weekend. It followed a mortar attack on two marine camps on Friday. That attack, which killed two marines and a child, has been blamed on an MNLF commander, Habier Malik. Government forces retaliated by...

WASHINGTON - The United States played a crucial but almost "invisible" role in finding and killing Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya by using a tracking device sewn into his backpack's fabric and plotting his movements with unmanned Predators and high-flying surveillance aircraft, The Atlantic magazine reported.In an article in its March issue, the magazine said the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the US military targeted Sabaya, whose real name was Aldam Tilao, and his group after they kidnapped American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham and another American Guillermo Sobero in May 2001 holding them for ransom. “His removal by Philippine...

JAKARTA: The Abu Sayyaf group is in disarray as there is no apparent leader following the death of its chief Khaddafy Janjalani, said Philippine Foreign Minister Dr Elberto G. Romulo. “We have decimated most of their leadership and destroyed the largest training camps set up by (Abu Sayyaf) and Jemaah Islamiah. “Two foreign terrorists, Umar Patek and Dulmantin, who are Jemaah Islamiah operatives involved in the Bali bombings, are also on the run and believed to be in Sulu, where the military was conducting its operation,” he said in his policy speech at the two-day Sub-Regional Ministerial Conference on Counter-Terrorism...