PHILLIPINO GOES NUMB ABOUT ABU SAYYAF

PHILLIPINO GOES NUMB

 ABOUT ABU SAYYAF

BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU

U.S. TRAINED PHILLIPPINO SOLDIERS MOVE IN AGAINST ABU SAYYAF REBELS RECENTLY

A Philippine pal of The News Office Desk of Paedia Express Multimedia  reporting live from Lagos,Nigeria in an online chat from Manila ,Philippines panicked at the  mention of the Abu Sayyaff rebels who have being operating in some of the most isolated Archipelagos in the Indian Ocean four over four decades as they declared war on the state in their desire to get an Islamic province in place.

In a chat ,the source elected to pray for the deliverance spiritually of those that have been killing and maiming in the name of God in their country,he also thanked Paedia Express for its concerns over safety issues as far as their country was concern.

A Norwegian captured by the radical and violent Islamist group  was recently released after several months of negotiations between the abductors and interest groups over the safety of the Norwegian hostage

Abu Sayyaf released Kjartan Sekkingstad a according to Western Mindanao Command spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan Jr.

Sekkingstad's release was an offshoot of ongoing military operations against the Abu Sayyaf group, Tan told CNN Philippines. The Moro National Liberation Front, which is in peace talks with the government, assisted authorities in the operation, he said.

"Simultaneous land, air, naval and police operations complemented each other putting pressure on (Abu Sayyaf)," Tan said.

It is unclear whether a ransom was paid to secure Sekkingstad's release.

Sekkingstad was abducted from a resort on Samal Island, which lies off the coast of the major southern island of Mindanao, on September 21, 2015.

Three people were kidnapped with him: Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, and Filipina Tess Flor. Hall, Ridsdel and Flor were visiting the resort's marina on their yacht and Sekkingstad was the manager of the property.

Abu Sayyaf initially demanded a $6.3 million ransom for each of the victims to be paid by April 25, according to Philippine state media.

In March a jarring video surfaced, showing the four pleading for their lives.

In April, after murdering Canadian hostage Ridsdel, the group reset the deadline to June 13 for the remaining three hostages.

A video obtained in May by SITE, a group that monitors extremist and terrorist groups, showed three hostages surrounded by six armed militants.

Abu Sayyaf beheaded the other Canadian, Hall, in June.

Flor was released June 24, less than a week before Rodrigo Duterte officially assumed the presidency. He presented Flor to the public during a police turnover ceremony in Davao.

CNN Philippines reported that Sekkingstad spoke by telephone with Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza after his release and in his first words thanked Duterte.

Dureza said he would present Sekkingstad to Duterte Sunday.

Abu Sayyaf is headquartered in the restive Muslim-majority province of Mindanao in the country's far south. The violent extremist group split from established Philippines separatist movement Moro National Liberation Front in 1991.

The Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country, but the south has historically had a large Muslim population. Abu Sayyaf's stated aim is to establish an independent Islamic state on the southern island of Mindanao.

The group first became active in the early 1990s and was responsible for bombings across the southern Philippines and in the Malaysian state of Sabah.

Following the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Washington worked hard with the Philippine military to stop the group's activities.

Largely weakened by these attacks, Abu Sayyaf started to move from large-scale bombings to kidnappings.

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Abu Sayyaf is an Islamist militant group based in and around Jolo and Basilan islands in the southwestern part of the Philippines, where for more than four decades, Moro groups have been engaged in an insurgency for an independent province in the country. The group is considered very violent,^[23] and was responsible for the Philippines' worst terrorist attack, the bombing of Superferry 14 in 2004, which killed 116 people.^[24] The name of the group is derived from the Arabic abu (Arabic: أبو‎‎) ("father of"), and sayyaf (Arabic: سيّاف‎‎) ("swordsmith").^[25] As of 2012, the group was estimated to have between 200 and 400 members,^[26] down from 1,250 in 2000.^[27] They use mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars, and automatic rifles.
Since its inception in 1991, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations, and extortion^[28] in what they describe as their fight for an independent Islamic province in the Philippines.^[29] They have also been involved in criminal activities, including kidnapping, rape, child sexual assault, forced marriage,^[30] drive-by shootings, extortion, and drug trafficking,^[31] and the goals of the group "appear to have alternated over time between criminal objectives and a more ideological intent".^[26]
The group has been designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations, Australia,^[12] Canada,^[13] Indonesia,^[14] Malaysia,^[15] the Philippines,^[11] United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom,^[16] and the United States.^[17][29] In 2002, fighting Abu Sayyaf became a mission of the American military's Operation Enduring Freedom and part of the Global War on Terrorism.^[32][33] Several hundred United States soldiers are also stationed in the area to mainly train local forces in counter terror and counter guerrilla operations, but, as a status of forces agreement and under Philippine law, they are not allowed to engage in direct combat.^[33]
The group was founded by Abdurajik Abubakar Janjalani, and led after his death in 1998 by his younger brother Khadaffy Janjalani who was killed in 2007. On 23 July 2014, Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Totoni Hapilon swore an oath of loyalty to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIL.^[7] In September 2014, the group began kidnapping people to ransom, in the name of ISIL.^[