In recent weeks, the Islamic State has beheaded 21 Coptic Christians and reportedly burned alive 40 police officers and tribesmen in Iraq, in addition to the Jordanian air force pilot who was put in a cage and burned alive in Syria. IS, invoking religious beliefs, has beheaded or cut off the limbs of cigarette smokers and mobile phone users.
This week in Libya, IS launched a campaign against music – by torching drums and other musical instruments. IS is competing for notoriety with al-Qaeda, which claimed responsibility for the attacks last month on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket in Paris.
The threat posed by IS and al-Qaeda transcends borders, and the two groups recruit militants from around the world. The Philippines cannot afford to discount reports that homegrown militants have undergone training with IS forces abroad and are back to create trouble.
For many years, international terrorists have found sanctuary in the Philippines. A nephew of Osama bin Laden openly operated a charity organization in Mindanao until it was shut down amid reports that it was being used to funnel funds to the Abu Sayyaf and terrorist organizations. The mastermind of the first attack on the World Trade Center in New York, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, plotted attacks while in Manila, and so did his uncle, 9/11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Several of the founding members of the Abu Sayyaf fought alongside the mujahedeen in Afghanistan. Top bomb makers of the Qaeda-linked Southeast Asian terror cell Jemaah Islamiyah trained fighters in Moro Islamic Liberation Front camps, with the two groups launching several deadly bomb attacks in Mindanao and Metro Manila. Ongoing turbulence in the country is due to the MILF’s slaughter of 44 elite police commandos who neutralized top JI terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, in Maguindanao on Jan. 25.
The government must thoroughly verify reports that IS has gained a foothold in this country through the various armed groups that roam freely in parts of Mindanao. Considering the history of armed groups in the south, the story is not farfetched. The consequences of ignoring the report can be dire, not only for communities in Mindanao but even in Metro Manila and the rest of the country.