The_Abu_Sayaff_Group_or_‘Bearer_of_the_Sword’

The Abu Sayaff Group or ‘Bearer of the Sword’ History • Started in 1991 when it split from the Moro National Liberation front. • Based mostly in the Southern Islands of the Philippines, but they operated in Malaysia in 2000. • They have many ties with Radical Islamic Organizations. Involved with Osama bin Laden and other major terrorists. • Abduragak Abuakar Janalani was the leader and like Osama bin Laden, he was a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. He was killed in a gun fight by police in 1998. • After a lot of deciding who would take over has leader after the death, Khadafy Janjalani, Abduragak’s younger brother took over. • The young Islamic radicals that have been mostly recruited from high schools and universities. • There are 200 core fighters and more than 2,000 supporters • The group receives funding from robberies, piracy, and kidnappings. It is also believed that the organization receives funding from the international terrorist network of Osama bin Ladin. • Smallest, but most radical Islamic group present in the world today. Activity • Abu Sayyaf's activities include bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and extortion from companies and wealthy businessmen in order to attain their aims. • First ever attack was throwing a bomb into a wharf that had a boat carrying Christian preachers. They have since bombed several Catholic sayyaf, abu, american, osama, kidnapped, islamic, group, bin, 2000, 1993, world, walton, victims, town, terrorist, spanish, southern, several, said, receives, radical, philippine, people, over, mostly, leader, laden, kidnappings, island, international, gunmen, funding, fight, christian