Military to defeat Abu Sayyaf before 2010

MANILA, Philippines - The military aims to crush the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group before the end of 2009, an official said on Sunday. Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr., chief of the Armed Forces’ public affairs office, said they have taken Malacañang’s decision to junk the proposal to grant amnesty to the Abu Sayyaf as a cue to defeat the bandit group before 2010. “We have set the target internally because when we are given a mission, we need to have a target [date] so that all of us will be working towards just one goal," Brawner told dzBB radio in an interview. The military placed the current number of Abu Sayyaf members to 300, most of them operating in the hinterlands of Sulu and Basilan provinces. The group had been involved in bombing attacks, high-profile kidnappings and beheadings in the past. The US State Department has classified the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organization for having ties with Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda international terrorist network. Brawner said they are confident that “infighting" among Abu Sayyaf members would hasten the downfall of the group. “Because of the infighting among their leaders, it’s natural that this will result into the downfall of the Abu Sayyaf group," he said. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. has ordered the military to intensify its operations against the Abu Sayyaf after last week’s release of Eugenio Vagni, the last of the International Committee on the Red Cross (ICRC) hostages kidnapped by the group last January 15 in Sulu. Brawner said that as part of their campaign, soldiers have also been ordered to carry out civil military operations and other developmental projects in Abu Sayyaf-infested areas. “What we will see in the next few months is not purely combat operations. This will be coupled with developmental efforts. We are going to see that all sectors will be collaborating to solve this problem," he said. - GMANews.TV