• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

ASG ABDUCTIONS

Date Reported: Friday, March 31, 2000
Incident Type: SECURITY
Country: ZAMBOANGA , PHILIPPINES

Incident: The Philippine Star, in several issues, has reported the abduction of some 53 students, teachers, and a Catholic priest by the Muslim insurgent band, the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). The incident took place after the ASG, beaten back in an attack on an army post on Basilan Island, overran a nearby school, and kidnapped the student body and faculty. The guerrillas quickly released 18 of the hostage to government negotiators in the days immediately following the incident, but retained custody of the remainder. Among the victims not released was the school age daughter of Abdul Midjal, a bodyguard to Basilan Province Governor Wahab Akbar. In reprisal, Midjal ordered the abduction of 10 relatives of Khadaffy Janjalani, the leader of the ASG. The ten relatives included Janjalani's mother, wife and one-year old daughter.

Midjal's reprisal abduction so far has been counter productive. Janjalani has announced the readiness of his group to execute his 35-odd hostages and declared his willingness to sacrifice his own family, who presumably would be killed in reprisal. The ASG, in its negotiations with government negotiators over the kidnapping has demanded 200 sacks of rice, canned goods, and medicines, and has insisted upon the firing of Basilan Governor Akbar and Basilan Police Superintendent Akmadul Pangambayan.

Basilan congressman Abdulgani "Gerry", acting as go-between with both sides urged Midjal to release his group of hostages, the Janjalani family. In the meantime, relatives of the ASG hostages, and some of the 18 released victims, held a demonstration at a nearby school, urging the ASG to relinquish its prisoners. Three army battalions are standing by in Basilan, but military commanders have been urged to keep them in place for the time being, to give negotiations a chance.

(RISC Comment: The ASG has renamed itself the Harakat-ul-Islamiya in acknowledgement of its Muslim antecedents. Earlier in March, ASG terrorists kidnapped a Filipino businessman, a bank teller, and a bookeeper for ransom in the Sulu Archipelago. The incident, to the best of our knowledge remains unresolved. The ASG has a track record of kidnappings extending back to its founding days in the early 1990s. It's area of operations comprise the Phililippine island provinces of Basilan and Sulu, and the general area of Zamboanga City, extending somewhat into the mainland provinces of Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur. The group is estimated to have 1000-1200 combatants operating in a number of semi-autonomous bands.)