While the Abu Sayyaf Group has perpetrated a number of high profile attacks to include everything
from assassinations, bombings, mass executions, beheadings as well as kidnappings, the single
most recognizable and publicized aspect of the group’s exploits has come in the form of “extreme
ruthlessness and wanton disregard for life, especially those of Christians”28.
The ASG routinely beheads its victims, most of which were kidnapped and held for months or even years
before either being ransomed or killed. The affinity for kidnap and ransom has not always been the
modus operandi of the ASG, but rather an adaptation and specific signature and funding strategy of
Ghalib Andang, also known as the Commander Robot, following Abubakar Janjalani’s death in 1998
The very first attack for which the ASG received and/or claimed credit for was the 1991 bombing of the
M/V Doulos, a Christian missionary ship docked in Zamboanga. The attack was reportedly carried out as
retaliation for anti-Islamic statements made by the missionaries.