Word: sayyaf
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...Laden spoke warmly of both Yousef and Wali Khan Amin Shah, another convicted member of the Bojinka plot. Yousef and bin Laden moved in the same circles during the fight in Afghanistan against Soviet forces, where Yousef first met Abdurajak Janjalani, the leader of the Philippine terrorist group Abu Sayyaf. Janjalani, who was killed in 1998, was close to bin Laden, and in the early 1990s Yousef worked with him in the Philippines. Janjalani's operations are believed by Philippine authorities to have been bankrolled by Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden's brother...
...heavy rains that suddenly fell in the dense tropical forest created a moment of hope. The 15th Scout Company of the Armed Forces of the Philippines sensed an opportunity to strike at its elusive prey: Abu Sayyaf, the kidnapping gang that once formed part of Osama bin Laden's terrorism network. When the deluge began on Mindanao Island, the 30-odd bandits stopped to put up makeshift tarps for themselves and their three hostages--a Filipina nurse and an American couple, Martin and Gracia Burnham. The soldiers were already close by, having followed a trail of discarded coconut meat...
...Burnham, 42, a Christian missionary from Kansas, lay dead in the jungle. The nurse, Ediborah Yap, 48, had been shot in the back and died moments later. A bullet passed through the leg of Gracia Burnham, 43, and she had to be airlifted to Manila for treatment. Four Abu Sayyaf gang members also died in the shoot-out, but about two dozen others, including the group's leader, Abu Sabaya, escaped back into the jungle that has so successfully shielded them for years...
...pulled to their feet by the kidnappers and "used as human shields," according to Teodosio, who debriefed the Scouts. The bandits returned the army's fire, but it isn't yet clear how the hostages were hit--whether they were caught in the cross fire or targeted by Abu Sayyaf for execution. The army is preparing an official report. Gracia Burnham reportedly characterized her husband's death as "God's liking...
...yearlong hostage drama now frees the Philippine army, with or without U.S. assistance, to pursue Abu Sayyaf more aggressively. Although the group is thought to have only about 200 members, it has bedeviled successive Philippine governments in recent years, carrying out kidnappings and otherwise terrorizing local residents. Manila has sent reinforcements to the region, hoping that a final showdown is near. But Abu Sayyaf has shown an uncanny ability to evade capture in the jungle ? and continue its reign of terror...