The militants beheaded two Canadian hostages earlier this year, after failing to collect a ransom. The Abu Sayyaf is a loose network of militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, and has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings for ransom. While its leaders have in recent years pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, analysts say it is mainly focused on a lucrative kidnapping business rather than religious ideology.