JOLO ISLAND (Mindanao Examiner / 11 Jun) – Suspicions and fears of betrayal among themselves have fragmented members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group in the southern Philippines.
With millions of dollars and pesos of bounties on top of their heads, leaders of the country’s most notorious terrorist group are now scared that their own followers may betray them in exchange for the huge rewards.
Just last week, the United States handed some P490 million or about $10 million to four Filipino Abu Sayyaf spies in the southern island of Jolo, a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, for helping the Philippine military kill the group’s chieftain, Khadaffy Janjalani and his deputy, Jainal Antel Sali, in separate raids in their hideouts.
“They are having a tough time now. The Abu Sayyaf remains fragmented because of fear by their leaders that they would be betrayed by their own people,” the deputy chief of the military’s Western Mindanao Command, Brig. Gen. Juancho Sabban, told the regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.
The general said the Abu Sayyaf leadership is now divided between the Jolo commanders under Radulan Sahiron and those from Basilan island led by Isnilon Hapilon. “Both sides are now suspicious of each other. With the huge reward monies, anything can happen,” he said.
Many former Abu Sayyaf members who surrendered to authorities have provided vital information about the terror group and its leaders that led to the capture and killing of many militants in Jolo.
The United States listed the Abu Sayyaf as a foreign terrorist organization and offered as much as ten million dollars for the capture of its known leaders.
The Abu Sayyaf is blamed for the spate of bombings and kidnappings of foreigners in the Philippines. (With a report from Juley Reyes)
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