AFP: Janjalani a disgrace to Islam

FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City — Armed Forces chief Gen. Benjamin Defensor branded yesterday Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffi Janjalani as "pain in the ass" and a "disgrace to jihad (Islamic holy war)."

Defensor was reacting to a statement from Janjalani, broadcast by a Mindanao-based radio network, calling for jihad against "local and foreign enemies of Islam."

"He is a disgrace to the Muslim community in the Philippines," Defensor said during rites for the conferment to him of the Alumni Achievement Award at the Philippine Military Academy here.

He reiterated his observation that Janjalani would not get any support from the Muslim populace.

Adverting to the Abu Sayyaf’s notoriety for terrorist acts such as mass kidnapping for ransom, and beheading of hostages, Defensor said no one would join Janjalani’s jihad. "Nobody wants Janjalani because he is putting the Muslims in a bad light."

In his taped message aired over a station in Zamboanga City of Radio Mindanao Network (RMN), Janjalani declared that the Abu Sayyaf, which has been linked by Washington to the al-Qaeda terrorist network of Osama bin Laden, remained strong and united despite relentless offensives by the military.

Janjalani’s call came more than three months after the reported death of Abu Sayyaf spokesman Aldam Tilao, alias Abu Sabaya, in a clash with elite troops in the high seas off Zamboanga del Norte.

Tilao was reportedly slain last June 21 in a firefight with elements of the Special Warfare Group while trying to flee Zamboanga del Norte for nearby Basilan.

The military also believed that Janjalani left Basilan sometime last year to evade the heat from the military’s intensified and rigid campaign to wipe out his group.

Military intelligence said Janjalani and his group joined up with another Abu Sayyaf faction led by Radulan Sahiron in nearby Sulu.

Janjalani blamed the government and the military for the death of American missionary Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse Edibora Yap during a rescue operation in Zamboanga del Norte on June 7.

Martin’s wife Gracia was rescued but was wounded in that incident.

But Defensor declared that Janjalani has no right to call for a holy war since he himself was a "disgrace to Islam."— Artemio Dumlao