Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has continued his antagonistic diplomatic approach towards the United States, stating Monday that American soldiers in the southern island of Mindanao “have to go” or face kidnapping and violence from Islamic State affiliate Abu Sayyaf.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte formalized a “declaration of lawlessness” before leaving the country Monday, enhancing the powers of the military in response to a bomb attack last week that Islamic State affiliate Abu Sayyaf claimed.
A massive explosion struck a night market in Davao City, hometown of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, on Friday night (local time). At least 15 people have been reportedly killed, with more than 60 others wounded.
A group of jihadist militants in the southern Philippines broke into a jail Saturday night, freeing eight jihadist comrades and twenty other prisoners. Authorities say jail guards put up minimal resistance when confronted with a group of dozens of heavily armed terrorists.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte warned Wednesday of “white people, I suppose they are Arabs” looking to “indoctrinate” local populations in his country into radical Islam, and possibly working on behalf of the Islamic State (ISIS). Duterte announced a pay raise for all soldiers, ordering them to “destroy” Abu Sayyaf, a native jihadist group that has pledged allegiance to ISIS.
Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) terrorists in the Philippines are planning to target the 2017 Miss Universe pageant that is scheduled to be held in their country, The Foreign Desk reports, citing a secret jihadi social media channel.
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL)-linked Abu Sayyaf group, based in the southern Philippines, is threatening to behead the two remaining hostages from a group of four it kidnapped last year if a ransom of nearly $13 million is not paid.
The Philippines is expected to go through a monumental change now that the President-elect Rodrigo Duterte will assume the office of president on June 30th.
Manny Pacquiao, arguably the greatest boxing star in the history of the Philippines, has become the nation’s newest senator, running on a pro-Christian, anti-poverty platform. The election victory this Monday likely cements his decision to retire from the ring.
Newly surfaced video footage reportedly released by the Filipino jihadist group Abu Sayyaf purportedly shows three hostages pleading for their life and the decapitation of a fellow captive.
“Relax. I am not the man portrayed to be by some,” Philippines presidential frontrunner and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte told a room full of business leaders before offering details of his Viagra use and vowing a “bloody” presidency.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino revealed Wednesday that the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) affiliate group Abu Sayyaf had planned to abduct his sister, Kris Aquino, and boxing star and Congressman Manny Pacquiao.
A number of jihadist groups in Southeast Asia have pledged loyalty to the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and up to 1,000 people have left Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines to join the terrorist organization in Iraq and Syria, reports BBC.
The Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf group, based in the Philippines, has decapitated one of its four hostages taken captive on Samal Island in September 2015.
Speaking from Hannover, Germany, President Obama announced on Monday that another 250 U.S. special forces troops would be sent into Syria, joining roughly 50 special operators already deployed there.
Kidnappings by the Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf group have prompted Indonesia to call for joint maritime patrols with the Philippines and Malaysia.
Two Canadian hostages have surfaced in a video to make a “final urgent appeal” for their government to save them from imminent decapitation by the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL)-linked jihadist group Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines.
At least 13 Islamic State-linked jihadists were killed by the Philippine Army this past weekend during a major offensive in the southern part of the country.
On Tuesday, Indonesia announced that ten of its citizens, sailors working aboard a coal barge, had been kidnapped, with a ransom demand made by the Islamist militant group Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines. Wednesday brought reports that elite Indonesian counter-terrorist units are standing by to assist in a possible rescue operation.
An anonymous U.S. official told CNN on Monday that Army Delta Force special operators have begun operations against the Islamic State in Iraq.
In May, a U.S. Special Forces operation in Syria killed senior ISIS leader Abu Sayyaf, one of the top money men for the terror state. His wife Umm Sayyaf was taken prisoner and placed in detention in Iraq. Umm Sayyaf has now been charged in U.S. federal court with conspiracy in the death of Kayla Mueller, the American aid worker who was kidnapped, enslaved, brutalized, and ultimately killed by the Islamic State.
Terrorists from the Abu Sayyaf Philippines-based jihadi group, an affiliate of the Islamic State, have demanded over $60 million dollars for three Western hostages who were kidnapped at the country’s resort island of Samal.
A young Yazidi sex slave told The Independent that American hostage Kayla Mueller refused to escape the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) to save the Yazidis held with her.
In May, a U.S. special operations mission in Syria killed one of the top money men for ISIS, Abu Sayyaf, and captured his wife Umm Sayyaf. It would have been great to take Abu Sayyaf alive, but it was known at the time that his wife was also a high-value target, and subsequent interrogations have proven her to be a major asset. In fact, Nancy Youssef at the Daily Beast judges Umm Sayyaf to be “the richest human intelligence source to fall into U.S. hands to date.”
In a recent Delta Force-led raid against an Islamic State cell in Syria, American troops were able to extract a treasure trove of information related to the terror group’s leadership and financing structure, officials told the New York Times Monday.
U.S. special operations forces based in Iraq conducted a cross-border raid into eastern Syria and killed senior ISIS leader Abu Sayyaf, said to be responsible for major Islamic State financial operations, including the sale of oil and gas assets.
