ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
Police forces were placed on alert across the southern Philippines island province of Basilan Thursday after a town mayor's warning that the Abu Sayyaf had intensified its recruitment drive in the area was followed by an overnight bombing.
Police Senior Inspector Gean Gallardo, chief of the Central Police Station in Lamitan City, said security in the town had been increased following the blast that occurred near the village of Campo Uno at about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday.
He said no one was injured in the bombing - the latest in a series of attacks in different locations in the predominantly Muslim town - but some electricity poles were damaged, causing hours of power outage to thousands of residents in the area.
"[A] Follow up investigation is being conducted by security forces," he said. "But this [bombing] is definitely the handiwork of Abu Sayyaf out to sow fear among the peaceful people of Basilan."
Earlier Wednesday, Ungkaya Pukan town mayor Joel Maturan warned that recruitment by the Abu Sayyaf and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) -- who have both sworn allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL -- of young Muslims is "rampant" in his and neighboring towns in Basilan.
Maturan said young Muslims are told if they join the Abu Sayyaf and BIFF they will be given a "dory" -- a financial gift from the groom to the parents of the woman he will marry -- along with high-powered firearms and their families will each receive P50,000 ($1,1247).
On Wednesday, the al-Qaeda-linked militant group also threatened to behead one of two German hostages unless Germany pays a P250 million ransom and withdraws its support for the U.S. fight against ISIL in Syria and northern Iraq.
ISIL has captured large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, later declaring the territories under its control an Islamic "caliphate." The United States on Tuesday launched airstrikes against the group, in coalition with Arab allies Bahrain, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.
The Abu Sayyaf engages in kidnappings for ransom, bombings, assassinations and extortion. It is the most violent of the religious separatist groups operating in the southern Philippines, and claims to promote an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago.
Founded in the early 1990s, it has been classified by the U.S. as a "Terrorist organisation" since 1997. It rose to prominence after the kidnapping of a group of 21 foreigners in the dive resort of Sipadan in May 2000 and is currently holding foreign hostages in its jungle base on the island province of Sulu, including two European bird watchers, who were abducted two years ago in southern Tawi-Tawi province.
Authorities have also previously confirmed it is also holding German pair 71-year-old Stefan O and 55-year-old Henrike D who were reported missing in April, after their yacht was found empty in the Palawan province in the western Philippines.
Following Wednesday''s threat, the German Embassy in Manila said it would not withdraw support for the U.S. action, saying threats are not an appropriate way to influence our policy in ther region.
In recent months the Abu Sayyaf has uploaded videos to the Internet proclaiming allegiance to the Islamic State.
www.aa.com.tr/en
