Word: sayyaf
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...change. Officials in Manila say the final results of the forensic investigation should be released within weeks. Says National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales: "Because of the nature of the wreck, half-submerged in the bay, it will be difficult for investigators to prove 100% that it was Abu Sayyaf. But the overwhelming evidence points that way, and I'm certain they were the ones behind the attack." Thus, the SuperFerry 14 bombing will go onto the rolls as the world's fourth deadliest terrorist strike since Sept. 11, 2001, and Asia's worst since the Bali bombings of October...
...That conclusion will confirm the fears of regional intelligence officials and terrorism experts that Abu Sayyaf has evolved into a much more ferocious band. A new leadership has abandoned the kidnapping that brought in millions of dollars in ransom. Now, the group is returning to its Islamic roots and is using the familiar weapons of terror?bombing and assassination?in an attempt to achieve an independent Muslim republic in the southern Philippines. Abu Sayyaf already claims to be connected to al-Qaeda. And although regional intelligence officials downplay that assertion, they are worried that Abu Sayyaf could become what...
...group has shown alarming vigor in the past six months. Intelligence officials in Manila say they have intercepted explosives that were to be used in two more attempts to bomb passenger ferries departing from Manila for the southern cities of Zamboanga and Davao. In March, police arrested four Abu Sayyaf members in Manila who allegedly admitted they were preparing to blow up one of the city's busiest shopping malls using up to 36 kg of explosives toted in backpacks. (One of the men picked up was alleged SuperFerry bomber Redondo Cain Dellosa, who apparently spent several days before...
...Bombs aren't the only weapons Abu Sayyaf uses. "They are setting up an urban assassination squad called Fisabillilah, or 'The Path of God,'" says Kit Colliers of the Australian National University in Canberra, who has written a detailed report on Islamic militancy and terrorism in the Philippines for the International Crisis Group. Security officials in Manila say half a dozen alleged Abu Sayyaf operatives arrested in June for possession of materials for explosives were members of the squad. "Thank God we got them before the President's inauguration," says outgoing Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita, referring to Arroyo's swearing...
...Sayyaf was founded in the 1980s, with the backing of men who were at the heart of al-Qaeda. No less a figure than Osama bin Laden's own brother-in-law, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, personally arranged initial funding for the group through one of the Islamic charities he operated in the Philippines at the time. But after the death of Abu Sayyaf's founder Abdurajak Janjalani in a firefight with police in August 1998, its religious and political goals were dropped in favor of kidnapping for ransom. The group was paid millions of dollars by the governments of Malaysia...