‘Sayyaf to use 100 Christian recruits in sabotage operations’

Abu Sayyaf terrorists have reportedly recruited about 100 Christian men from Zamboanga City and Basilan since July for training as terrorist bombers.

Military intelligence said Abu Sayyaf commanders Abu Sulaiman and Albader Parad offered the recruits between P10,000 and P30,000 to entice them to join the terrorist organization, which is comprised mostly of Muslims.

The recruits were to be used for unspecified "sabotage operations" in Zamboanga City, seat of the Armed Forces Southern Command, military intelligence added.

Sulaiman and Parad are wanted by the US government.

The recruitment drive could be a move to boost the Abu Sayyaf’s ranks after an intensified military offensive had reduced the terrorists to around 500 fighters, down by half since 2000, the military said.

Military intelligence has monitored Abu Sayyaf recruitment activities in Maguindanao province — in Barangay Bunot in Indanan, Sulu, and in predominantly Muslim barangays in Rio Hondo, Campo Islam and Arena Blanco in Zamboanga City.

The Christians could possibly be also linked to the Rajah Solaiman Movement, a group of Christians who converted to Islam and which has close links with the Abu Sayyaf, the report said.

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said the Rajah Solaiman group was increasingly becoming a major security threat, with many of its members also based in Metro Manila.

Converted Christians belonging to Balik Islam movement are reportedly more radical and aggressive, and more often have allied themselves with the Rajah Solaiman Movement, which has a direct link to the Abu Sayyaf.

Predominantly Christian Zamboanga City, venue of US anti-terrorism exercises, has come under deadly bomb attacks by the Abu Sayyaf in recent years.

Abu Sayyaf terrorists used to be based in Basilan until US-backed offensives three years ago forced them to flee to nearby islands and provinces.

A recent three-month massive military manhunt, backed at times by US surveillance aircraft, failed to nab Abu Sayyaf chieftain, Khaddafy Janjalani, and his men in Maguindanao.

Aside from Zamboanga City and Basilan, the Abu Sayyaf also has been trying to recruit members in Maguindanao and the island of Jolo, the report said.

In early 2000, the Abu Sayyaf’s strength reached more than 1,000 when its various factions staged several high-profile kidnappings in Mindanao.

But US-backed offensives have whittled this number down to more than 400, military officials say.

The Abu Sayyaf, which is on a US list of terrorist organizations, has been blamed for many acts of banditry and attacks, including the bombing of an inter-island ferry that killed 116 last year in the country’s worst terrorist attack. — With AP, AFP