Abu Sayyaf Group beheads hostages: Timeline
Searching more than 75 years of world history
Timeline
- January 2007. It is announced that DNA testing had confirmed that human remains disinterred in December 2006 on the island of Jolo were those of Khadafy Janjalani, leader of the Islamic militant Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), who was wanted for kidnapping, murders, and terrorist bombings.
- November 2006. Military intelligence agents capture leading ASG member Annik Abbas, who reportedly admitted taking part in the beheading in June of US hostage Guillermo Sobero.
- October 2006. Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno announces plans to create local civilian militias to augment the efforts of the police and army to defeat the New People's Army (NPA--the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines--CPP), the ASG, and the Islamic militant network Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
- March 2006. A state of emergency imposed to suppress an alleged coup plot in February is lifted; the ASG is initially suspected of a bomb attack in a co-operative store on the south-western island of Jolo, in which nine people are killed, but the police later acknowledge that the bombing may be connected with attempted extortion.
- February 2006. A state of emergency is imposed after an alleged coup plot is revealed. The army blames the ASG for a bomb attack on the south-western island of Jolo, which kills one man and injures 28 people. The 10th round of exploratory peace talks are held between the government and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
- November 2005. Fresh fighting breaks out on the island of Jolo between government troops and ASG guerrillas and the Misuari Renegade Group (MRG), a breakaway faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
- October 2005. Three men, including two Filipino members of the ASG, are sentenced to death for the death of four people in a bomb attack on a bus in Manila in February.
- March 2005. A failed attempt by members of the ASG to break out of prison leads to a bloody stand-off with the police and troops, resulting in at least 28 deaths; the police claim to have foiled a bomb plot intended for the Easter holiday when they capture an ASG suspect and seize explosives.
- January 2005. Official statistics say that the death toll in insurgencies in 2004 included 164 soldiers and government militiamen, 182 communist rebels of the New People's Army (NPA), 32 members of the ASG, and nine guerrillas of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
- October 2004. Six members of the ASG are charged with planting a bomb that caused a fire in February on the Superferry 14 passenger ship, in which 116 people were presumed to have died.
- August 2004. A court on the south-western island of Basilan sentences 17 members of the ASG to death for a series of kidnappings in 2002.
- May 2004. Some 53 prisoners, including at least eight members of the ASG, using smuggled firearms escape from a prison on the southern island of Basilan.
- March 2004. It is announced that the security services claim to have thwarted terrorist attacks on Manila by members of the ASG.
- February 2004. A bomb explodes on the Superferry 14, in waters off Manila, resulting in 186 passengers being reported missing.
- August 2003. The army announces that Abdulmukim Edris, one of two ASG members who had escaped with convicted bomb maker Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi in July, has been killed while trying to escape from custody; aftermath of army mutiny in July.
- July 2003. Army mutiny; two members of the ASG escape from prison alongside a leading member of the regional Islamic militant Jemaah Islamiah (JI) network; the government announces that it has agreed on a ceasefire with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
- June 2003. The separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) renounces terrorism; It is reported that Roland Ulla, the last hostage of 20 kidnapped by the ASG in April 2000, has escaped and is now in the "protective custody" of the army.
- May 2003. The US government designates the Philippines a "major non- NATO ally", entitling the country to increased supplies of US arms and military co-operation; the USA says it will deploy troops to support Philippine military operations against the ASG; a former hostage of the ASG claims that senior Filipino military personnel had colluded with the outlawed group.
- March 2003. The ASG claims responsibility for a bomb which explodes at Davao City international airport on the southern island of Mindanao, killing 23 people and injuring at least 147 others.
- February 2003. The ASG claims responsibility for three bombings in North and South Cotabato provinces, which killed at least three people and injured 18; the army claims to have killed the third most important ASG leader, Mujib Susukan; the ceasefire between government forces and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) collapses when the army launches an assault on the Buliok complex, one of MILF's biggest camps, near Pikit town in North Cotabato province on Mindanao.
- November 2002. The police arrest Abdulmukim Edris, an alleged explosives expert of the ASG; signing of new military pact with the USA in support of its "war on terror".
- October 2002. The ASG is one of several groups blamed for a series of bombings in the Philippines and involved in clashes with government troops.
- September 2002. The military claims to have killed 17 members of the ASG on the south-western island of Jolo.
- August 2002. Suspected guerrillas of the ASG abduct six Christian Jehovah's Witnesses on the south-western island of Jolo before beheading two male hostages.
- June 2002. Two hostages held by the ASG are killed during a rescue attempt by Philippines troops; Philippines navy special forces claim to have shot and killed three ASG guerrillas, including Abu Sabaya, the most prominent of the ASG leadership.
- May 2002. The USA announces that it will pay a US$5 million reward for information leading to the capture of five leaders of the ASG.
- April 2002. A telephone caller just before three bombs explode in General Santos City, killing 14 people and injuring 69, claims responsibility of the ASG.
- March 2002. The ASG releases a videotape of two US hostages, Gracia Burnham and Martin Burnham, missionaries who had been kidnapped in May 2001; at least 15 ASG guerrillas are killed and several captured during clashes on Basilan.
- February 2002. The government release to television channels a captured videotape showing the ASG beheading captured soldiers.
- January 2002. It is confirmed that some 650 US special forces and counter-terrorism experts will hold a joint exercise with Philippine troops as part of the government’s fight against terrorist groups, including the ASG.
- November 2001. The USA pledges US$100 million in military and counter-terrorist assistance to the Philippines; it is reported that seven hostages held by the ASG have escaped from their captors on the southern island of Basilan.
- August 2001. The 21 hostages seized in May by the ASG remain in captivity, despite a continuing military campaign against the rebels on Basilan island; the ASG strike again near Lamitan town, kidnapping 36 villagers and later beheading 10 of them.
- June 2001. Nine hostages seized in May escape during fierce clashes between government troops and guerrillas from the ASG.
- May 2001. The ASG claims responsibility for the kidnapping of 20 people, including three US citizens, from a tourist resort off the coast of Palawan island, prompting a military response from the government.
- April 2001. Elite military units rescue Jeffrey Schilling, a US hostage held since August 2000 by the ASG on the island of Jolo.
- October 2000. Several hostages held by the ASG are rescued by the army on the island of Jolo.
- September 2000. President Joseph Estrada suspends negotiations with the ASG, which is holding 19 hostages on the island of Jolo, and launches a military assault on the rebels.
- August 2000. Ten hostages seized by the ASG from the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan are released.
- May 2000. President Joseph Estrada faces increasing pressure to bring about a peaceful conclusion to a hostage crisis after rebels from the ASG seize a group of 21 people, including 10 foreign tourists.
- April 2000. Rebels from the ASG are amongst those blamed for the abduction of 21 people, including 10 foreign tourists, on the tiny resort island of Sipadan off the north-east coast of Malaysia's Sabah state on the island of Borneo.
- March 1998. Local media claims that 17 members of the ASG have been killed in two separate shoot-outs with government troops in Lantawan, Basilan.
- September 1996. Some media reports claim that the ASG and the Islamic Command Council have agreed to operate under the command of the radical Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to present a united front in opposition to a peace agreement signed by the government and the Muslim secessionist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
- April 1995. Some 200 heavily armed assailants, thought to be members of the ASG, are blamed for an attack on the largely Christian town of Ipil, in which some 50 civilians are massacred.
- August 1994. A senior military commander claims that government forces have completely "annihilated" the ASG.
- June 1994. Government troops launch an offensive against the ASG.
- February 1986. In the face of overwhelming civilian and military opposition, President Ferdinand Marcos flees the Philippines, thereby ending his grip on power.
- February 1986. President Ferdinand Marcos is defeated in presidential elections.
- January 1981. President Ferdinand Marcos announces the lifting of martial law, under which he had ruled by decree since Sept. 21, 1972.
- April 1975. After talks between the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the government, MNLF leaders reject a government proposal to partition the Philippines as a solution to the insurgency and present a list of demands.
- April 1974. Renewed fighting between Muslim insurgents and government troops breaks out on Mindanao and in the Sulu archipelago.
- July 1973. In a national referendum voters overwhelmingly vote in favour of President Marcos continuing in office beyond his five-year term.
- January 1973. President Ferdinand Marcos introduces a new constitution granting him unlimited powers for an indefinite period.
- September 1972. President Ferdinand Marcos imposes martial law.
- August 1971. President Ferdinand Marcos suspends civil rights in response to a bomb attack in Manila, at an opposition Liberal Party political rally, in which seven people were killed and almost 100 others were injured; Marcos calls for an end to violence, caused by ethnic tensions between the minority Muslims and majority Christians, on the island of Mindanao.
- November 1969. President Ferdinand Marcos is re-elected for a second term in office.
- November 1965. Ferdinand Marcos wins presidential elections.
- July 1946. The Philippines achieves independence from the USA.
- April 1946. Brig. Gen. Manuel Roxas wins presidential elections.
- October 1944. US forces begin to recapture the Philippines from Japan.
- December 1941. Japan attacks Pearl Harbour in Hawaii and military bases in the Philippines.
- November 1938. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt approves full and final independence for the Philippines on July 4, 1946, whilst agreeing to continue "mutually beneficial economic arrangements" with the Philippines until 1961.
- November 1935. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt terminates US rule over the Philippines by installing a transitional government.
- March 1935. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt approves a new constitution for the Philippines.
- March 1934. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs into law the Philippines Bill, granting the country independence within 10-12 years.
