ASG,or the Abu Sayyaf Group,is a very small but volatile problem for the Philippine Government. Numbering less than 500 guerillas who are extremely factionalised and operating on only 2 of Mindanao's small island provinces (Basilan and Sulu) the organisation is approaching the 20 year mark with no end in sight. The different factions co-operate with one another but because of their relative isolation from each other are unable to forge a concerted ideological and operative front. In fact, the group has been almost entirely devoid of any ideology since 1999. Its activities centre upon KFR (Kidnap for Ransom) and Commercial Extortion. "Jihad" is used as a convenient rationale but that is where its Islamo-fascist leanings end.
One of the group's hallmarks is the use of ANFO (Ammonium Nitrate and Fuel Oil) primed IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices,as in"bombs"). Elsewhere in Mindanao ANFO is rarely utilised. Instead, bomb builders rely upon UXO (Unexploded Ordinance), especially mortar shells (the actualy substance is Compound B). Indeed, even within ASG AOR (Area of Responsibility, in this case "Area of Operation") one sees other groups using UXO. The typical ASG IED uses ANFO as the primer, TNT as the charge and 2 Nokia 3310 or 3315 cell phones as the powerpack and timer. Lately a second signature has been encountered on Basilan, which I will touch upon a bit later on in this entry.
April 9th, 2011 was much like any other Saturday Night at Spasky Lodging House. The 3 floored concrete building on the island province of Basilan's Barangay Maligaya in Lamitan City was rarely busy. Basilan has never been a tourist destination. With the majority of the islanders belonging to 1 of 4 Islamicised Tribes:
1) Yakan, the indigenous tribe of Basilan
2) Tausug, an Islamicised Bisaya Tribe centered upon Sulu Province's Jolo Island
3) Sama (Samal), the tribe indigenous to Sulu Province
4) Badjao (Bajao), a nomadic seafaring tribe known popularly as "Sea Gypsies"
there just wasn't a huge market for the sort of business most hotels depend upon. At 655PM 2 young men in their late teens or early 20s checked in carrying a large green plastic shopping bag. Requesting a room on the ground floor the young men were given the key to room #200. Just a few minutes later both men left, no longer carrying their shopping bag and hurried down Flores Street, away from the hotel. Just as the clock struck 710PM a powerful IED pancaked the entire building, 2 adjoining houses and everything inside them. As is almost always the case in Mindanao, the authorities refuse to discuss bodycounts. In fact, true to form, the official narrative has no casualties whatsoever. That is pretty amazing considering that at the bare minimum the desk clerk would have been crushed. Owner Jose Tejada had been receiving threatening SMS (Text) messages demanding monthly payments and just a week prior to the detonation he had been visited by 3 well armed ASG guerillas who again demanded a monthly protection fee. Mr.Tejada refused.
At a bit past 9PM that same night, Saturday April 9th, the 3rd Special Forces (Airborne) Battalion's COY 15 (15th Company) on foot patrol in Barangay Port Area [sic] of Basilan's provincial capitol Isabela City turned onto JS Alano Street. One keen soldier espied an abandoned shoulder bag sitting squarely against the exterior wall of an ice plant. Located just 10 meters from a street corner holding a petrol station and a videoke bar (known as the "Sofia Hotel") the AFP CO (Commanding Officer),1LT (First Lieutenant) Arizabel cautiously approached the bag and by carefully examining it found that it contained a small plastic doll (yep,go figure) and a cluster of wires. Ordering his men to set a perimeter to protect an unsuspecting public he then contacted the nearest EOD (Explosives and Ordinance Disposal), in this case the PNP SAF (Philippine National Police Special Action Force, the PNP Special Forces element). After vetting the device which consisted of 2 Nokia 3310 cellphones, a clear plastic lunch box-type container that held the ANFO slash TNT payload and was labeled "ABO SAYYAF" [sic], entirely in capitol letters, the EOD detonated it on site without incident.
At 10AM the next morning the 32IB (Infantry Battalion) was conducting a limited foot patrol with a K9 (bomb sniffing dog) to secure a mobile checkpoint in front of Lamitan Central Elementary School) on Quezon Blvd. The dog alerted and quickly uncovered a yellow plastic shopping bag which, except for it not having a plastic doll was exactly the same signature as the device found in front of the ice plant in Isabela City. The payload sat in a pink tinted clear lunch box-type plastic container. 32IB EOD responded and safely removed the device and disposed of it off site.
On Good Friday, April 22nd, 2011 a passerby discovered a very powerful IED placed directly in front of the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) Building. Though most people unfamiliar with the locale focused on the BIR the site is actually a mere 7 meters from the main gate to Santa Isabela Cathedral, a large Catholic Church that was holding Good Friday Mass. Again, this device had the same signature except that its payload was much larger and was wrapped inside bands of sheetrock nails.
The next day, Saturday April 23rd, a teenaged boy was enjoying the cool evening air in Isabela City when he decided to take a shortcut across Plaza Rizal and its Rizal Monument, opposite the Basilan Provincial Capital Complex. As the youth approached the monument itself he saw a blinking red light inside a pile of rocks placed around the base of the statue. To his credit he didn't approach it but rather dialed up the Isabela CPO (City Police Office) which promptly deployed a detachment. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after discovering a flashlight wired to a 9Volt battery.
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