Southeast Asia Update

By Zachary Abuza

Abu Sayyaf: Fighting on the Island of Jolo continues. The 5,000-man contingent of Philippine armed forces (AFP) is being reinforced by a battalion of 300 men. The AFP announced that 2 more soldiers had been killed and made an unsubstantiated claim that 80 Abu Sayyaf had been killed in the past 3 days. The AFP claims that Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and a high-level JI operative Umar Patek were wounded in the fighting. This still has not been confirmed.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front, (MILF): Unsurprisingly, the latest round of peace talks between the Philippine government and the MILF that resumed on Monday broke down in Malaysia today. The talks centered on the issue of ancestral domain, and in particular, what would constitute the autonomous area under MILF control. The government has offered to give the Moros 613 villages on top of the 5 provinces that are already nominally autonomous; the MILF have demanded over 1,000 and contiguity.

Jemaah Islamiyah: A Balinese court sentenced three people in the past two days for their roles in the September 2005, triple suicide bombings in Bali that killed 20 and wounded nearly 200. Abdul Aziz, a high school computer teacher, was sentenced to 8 years in prison for his role in supporting Noordin Mohammad Top and Dr. Azahari bin Husin and running a website for JI. Mohammad Cholily, 28, was found guilty of supplying equipment and materiel for the bombs. Dwi Widyarto, 33, was sentenced to 8 years for providing computer and internet assistance to JI. The fourth person to be charged in the attacks is expected to be sentenced soon.

In other JI news, a bomb exploded in Tangkura, Sulawesi, a Christian village, killing one man on Tuesday. Central Sulawesi has been the scene of renewed sectarian fighting, and is seen by many as an attempt by JI to rebuild its depleted ranks.

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