Abus: From kidnaps to genuine terror

Abu Sayyaf kidnappers are back with a vengeance — this time as terrorists, Time magazine has reported.

In a story titled "The Return of Abu Sayyaf," written by Simon Elegant with reporting from Nelly Sindayen, the magazine said the sinking of the SuperFerry 14 last Feb. 27 was the handiwork of the Abu Sayyaf, contrary to initial claims of government investigators that it was either an accident or the work of pranksters.

"That conclusion will confirm the fears of regional intelligence officials and terrorism experts that the Abu Sayyaf has evolved into a much more ferocious band." the magazine reported in its latest issue dated Aug. 30. "A new leadership has abandoned the kidnapping that brought in millions of dollars in ransom. The group has shown alarming vigor in the past six months"

Yesterday, maritime officials said results of the investigation of the ferry sinking will be known next week.

"Now, the Abu Sayyaf is returning to its Islamic roots and is using the familiar weapons of terror — bombing and assassination — in an attempt to achieve an independent Islamic republic in Mindanao.

It already claims to be connected to al-Qaeda.

Last Feb. 27, a man calling himself Arnulfo Alvarado bought a ticket for Berth 51 on the 1,747-passenger SuperFerry 14, sailing from Manila to Bacolod and Davao cities.

Officials said Arnulfo Alvarado was the name of an Abu Sayyaf member, who is now dead.

Two other Abu Sayyaf operators have used Alvarado’s name to carry out previous attacks, intelligence officers added.

This Alvarado, whose real name was Redondo Cain Dellosa, hauled on board a cardboard box containing a television set. The TV was packed with 3.6 kg of TNT.

Making his way to the cheapest passenger section in the bowels of the ship, Dellosa carefully placed the box on his seat and slipped away just before the ferry cast off.

An hour after its 11 p.m. sailing, just off Corregidor Island, an explosion tore through SuperFerry 14, starting a fire that engulfed the ship and killed a hundred or more passengers (some likely victims are still unaccounted for).

Responsibility for the attack was immediately claimed by representatives of the Abu Sayyaf.

Investigators said Dellosa, who was apprehended four weeks later, confessed that the explosion was triggered by a timing device –and that he chose the cheap seats to maximize panic and loss of life.

Officials laughed off the claim; President Arroyo dismissed it as coming from "pranksters."

Despite promises of a swift investigation into the attack, concrete conclusions about the cause of the explosion have yet to appear.

Officials said the final results of the forensic investigation should be released within weeks.

Former national security adviser Norberto Gonzales said because of the nature of the wreck — half-submerged in the bay — it will be difficult for investigators to "prove 100 percent" that it was the Abu Sayyaf’s work.

"But the overwhelming evidence points that way, and I’m certain they were the ones behind the attack," he said.

Regional intelligence officials are worried that the Abu Sayyaf could become what it already says it is.

Gonzales describes the Abu Sayyaf as "by far the most dangerous group" in the country today.

"And that’s something they want to show the world and especially other terrorists who might give them support, like al-Qaeda," he said.

Intelligence officials said they have intercepted explosives that were to be used in two more attempts to bomb passenger ferries departing from Manila for the cities of Zamboanga and Davao.

Last March, police arrested four Abu Sayyaf members in Manila who allegedly admitted they were preparing to blow up one of the city’s busiest shopping malls using up to 36 kilos of explosives toted in backpacks.

One of the men picked up was alleged SuperFerry bomber Dellosa, who apparently spent several days before his arrest boasting to strangers in the capital about his role in the ferry attack in Manila Bay.

Senior intelligence officials believe that as part of his reconsolidation of the Abu Sayyaf, Khaddafi Janjalani and a core band of supporters have left the group’s traditional stomping grounds in the Sulu archipelago and Basilan, and moved onto the Mindanao mainland, the vast home turf of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim, MILF chairman, said a deal with the government is needed quickly before younger Muslims succumb to the greater radicalism of Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah.

"Once they see some hope, then they will think twice before joining groups that advocate suicide bombing and so on," Murad told Time in an exclusive interview.

"But when they believe there is no future, then they will go with these groups."

On the other hand, Abu Sayyaf leaders think that if the MILF makes peace with the government, the Abu Sayyaf will inherit the region’s firebrands.

"If this sell-out succeeds, more blood will flow because the young are more determined jihadis," said a top Abu Sayyaf leader.

"We will soon find out there are more Osama bin Ladens in our midst."

Murad said the MILF is not allied with the Abu Sayyaf, and that he questions its conversion to Islamic ideals and to the cause of a separate Islamic nation in Mindanao.

"The original Abu Sayyaf group, under the older brother Abdurajak, had a political objective," he said.

"As far as the personality of the younger brother Khaddafi is concerned, he’s not an ideological leader, and I don’t know how much control he has with the organization."

Murad dismisses widespread allegations that the MILF has collaborated with the Jemaah Islamiyah — al-Qaeda’s main offshoot in Southeast Asia — or allowed it to train in areas under MILF control.

"We have had no link with Jemaah Islamiyah," he said.

However Murad admits that plenty of foreign radicals have visited MILF camps in the past — especially before Sept. 11, 2001 — including Indonesian explosives expert Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, who was killed a year ago in a shootout with government troops in Cotabato City.

Murad however said al-Ghozi’s JI connections weren’t known when he was with the MILF.

He also admits that JI members may still be around.

"It is not impossible that some members of the MILF have a personal relationship, but I assure you that the MILF will not tolerate terrorism."

The Americans can come on an inspection tour of MILF camps as they have nothing to hide, Murad added.