Al Qaeda-linked militants in the southern Philippines have threatened to kill two Germans hostages they have been holding since April unless Germany stops supporting U.S. action against Islamic State, but officials have disputed the likelihood that the group will act on its threats.
The Philippines’ Abu Sayyaf group, formerly linked with al Qaeda, has threatened to behead one of two German captives by Oct. 10, according to messages distributed on Twitter. As well as demanding $5.6 million in ransom, the group demanded that Germany halt its support for the U.S. bombing campaign launched against Islamic State this week.
Sulu Provincial Governor Abdusakur Tan II, who heads a crisis committee on the kidnapping, said on Thursday (September 25) that they are verifying whether the threat is real, but cast doubt that the Abu Sayyaf group will carry out a beheading.
“In past kidnappings, they have not hurt any of their victims. Because these are like their goods. If they hurt the hostages, or behead them, kill them – they will lose their human shields against military attacks,” he said.
He said reports of recruitment for Islamic State in the province had not yet been verified, but that the prospect of recruitment was “not unimaginable”.
“These groups are religion-based. And you know here in Sulu, majority of the people are Muslim, so if religion is brought up, it will be easy to recruit,” Tan said.
Security officials doubt that Abu Sayyaf has genuine links with Islamic State, but see it as aiming to revive its fortunes and gain publicity by associating itself with the Middle Eastern group.
“We believe that the there is no direct link, that they are possible sympathisers joining in the bandwagon of media and social media correlation for them to gain popular support, especially in their illegal activities in the criminal acts of kidnap for ransom,” said Ramon Zagala, a military spokesman. “The possibility that they are sympathisers is high. However, to directly say that ISIS is here – there are no indications of that.”
“We see this as a way for them again to be known, because right now the Abu Sayyaf is in a decline, they are confined only in certain areas of the Philippines,” he added.
The small but violent group, which beheaded a U.S. man it had taken hostage in 2001, has suffered from dwindling support and military setbacks over the past decade, and is now believed to have only about 300 followers based on the remote islands of Jolo and Basilan in the southern Philippines.
The German man and woman, who were reportedly seized from a yacht in the South China Sea in April, are thought to be held on southern Jolo island by Abu Sayyaf fighters loyal to one of its leaders, Radullan Sahiron. His group is also believed to be holding a Dutch and a Swiss hostage who were seized in May 2012 and a Japanese man.
Another Abu Sayyaf leader, Isnilon Hapilon, swore allegiance to Islamic State in a Youtube video uploaded in July.
“There is a very strong link on the basis of the videos uploaded in several social media, indicating one key Abu Sayyaf group commander, Isnilon Hapilon, pledging allegiance to ISIS and several other videos showing Abu Sayyaf Group pledging allegiance to ISIS,” said Rommel Banlaoi, professor at Manila’s Center for Intelligence and National Security Studies.
The southern islands of the Philippines have been the site of a long drawn-out rebellion by local Muslims against Manila’s rule, and Abu Sayyaf burst into prominence in 2000 after kidnapping 21 tourists and workers from a dive resort in nearby Malaysia. Abu Sayyaf says it is fighting for an independent Islamic state but it has mainly been a kidnap-for-ransom gang.
“Abu Sayyaf group has found a revival of their ideological agenda through the Islamic State,” Banlaoi said.
The United States and its Arab allies bombed Islamic State targets inside Syria for the first time on Tuesday. The Sunni Muslim group has seized swathes of territory in civil war-torn Syria and Iraq, slaughtering prisoners and ordering Shi’ites and non-Muslims to convert or die.
Germany has ruled out taking part in air strikes, but did break a post-World War Two taboo on sending weapons to active conflict zones by agreeing to arm Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State fighters in northern Iraq.
(Reuters wires)
