• Started in 1991 when it split from the Moro National Liberation front.
• Based mostly in the Southern Islands of the Philippines, but they operated in Malaysia in 2000. .
• They have many ties with Radical Islamic Organizations. Involved with Osama bin Laden and other major terrorists.
• Abduragak Abuakar Janalani was the leader and like Osama bin Laden, he was a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. He was killed in a gun fight by police in 1998. .
• After a lot of deciding who would take over has leader after the death, Khadafy Janjalani, Abduragak's younger brother took over.
• The young Islamic radicals that have been mostly recruited from high schools and universities. .
• There are 200 core fighters and more than 2,000 supporters.
• The group receives funding from robberies, piracy, and kidnappings. It is also believed that the organization receives funding from the international terrorist network of Osama bin Ladin. .
• Smallest, but most radical Islamic group present in the world today. .
Activity.
• Abu Sayyaf's activities include bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and extortion from companies and wealthy businessmen in order to attain their aims.
• First ever attack was throwing a bomb into a wharf that had a boat carrying Christian preachers. They have since bombed several Catholic churches in Zamboanga and Davao City, killing several people. .
• In 1993, Abu Sayyaf gunmen kidnapped Charles Walton, a language researcher at the US-based Summer Institute of Linguistics. Walton was 61 and they released him after 23 days. .
• In 1994, Abu Sayyaf militants kidnapped three Spanish nuns and a Spanish priest in separate incidents. In 1998, their victims included two Hong Kong men, a Malaysian and a Taiwanese grandmother. .
• In April 1995 Abu Sayyaf carried out a vicious attack on the Christian town of Ipil in Mindanao.