ABSTRACT
The strength of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) diminished during 2018 as a result of a sustained counter-insurgency campaign waged by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). The losses sustained by the group followed the decimation of its largest faction and the death of its leader, Isnilon Hapilon, during the Marawi siege in 2017. The Moro peace process in Mindanao, between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, proceeded in 2018 without the involvement of the ASG and other radical ISIS-aligned groups. The ASG was founded in 1991 by the radical Islamist preacher Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani as a splinter when the Moro National Liberation Front dropped its call for independence in favour of autonomy for Mindanao’s Moro Muslim minority. The AFP employs aerial and ground offensives against ASG hideouts in Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and also conducts intelligence-led operations to rescue hostages.
