Notorious Abu Sayyaf Commander Responsible For Tourist Beheadings Killed in Shootout

Filipino security forces killed one of Abu Sayyaf's most notorious members, a man responsible for the beheading of two kidnapped Canadians, in a shootout on a resort island in the southern Philippines on Tuesday that left ten dead.

The Philippines military and police intercepted three boats carrying 10 members of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist organization—a group who've waged a decades-long Islamist insurgency from the island jungles of Sulu and Basilan provinces. The heavily armed men had reportedly ventured hours from their base in an attempt to kidnap tourists from the white sand beaches of the popular tourist island Bohol.

Six members of Abu Sayyaf were killed in the ensuing firefight. Three soldiers and one police officer were also among the dead, according to initial reports. The soldiers took photos of the deceased and positively identified Moammar Askali, an Abu Sayyaf commander known in terrorist circles as "Abu Rami"—a man who would do anything, even behead his captives, in a bid to rise to the top of the terrorist organization's ranks.

"This is a major blow to the Abu Sayyaf," Gen. Eduardo Ano, the military's chief of staff told the Associated Press. "If they have further plans to kidnap innocent people somewhere, they will now have to think twice."

Kidnapping is a major source of revenue for the Al Qaeda-linked organization. According to some estimates, Abu Sayyaf makes tens of millions of US dollars a year ransoming kidnapped sailors and tourists. The group reportedly raked in $7 million USD during the first six months of 2016 alone. The threat of kidnapping in the Sulu Sea has become so great in recent months that container ships were cutting into their already slim margins to avoid the sea altogether.

Indonesian fishermen and sailors remain in Abu Sayyaf's captivity. The group previously released four Indonesian sailors. The governments of the Philippines and Indonesia have been tight-lipped about the possibility that a ransom was paid to Abu Sayyaf to secure their release, but the Philippines' news site Rappler, citing classified documents, found that $7.4 million USD in ransoms had been paid last year for the safe release of 17 Indonesian citizens.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has pledged to eradicate the terrorist organization, using the same kind of "surrender or die" rhetoric that has made him popular at home and a pariah abroad.

"We will not let up on the war against the Abu Sayyaf and drugs," Duterte told the Philippines Star. "They would not honor their word. If they like to kill, then we will go ahead and kill them up to the last man."

Duterte reportedly handed out Glock pistols to Filipino soldiers during his visit to Jolo island, in Sulu, south Philippines. He promised that the government's war on drugs and terrorism would go ahead with "full force," despite international condemnation.

Amnesty International has said that the president's war on drugs, a violent crackdown of extra-judicial killings that have left thousands dead, could be considered a "crime against humanity." At home, an opposition lawmaker is leading the fight to impeach Duterte, accusing him of "culpable violation of the constitution, engaging in bribery, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption and other high crimes."

The group's resilience—it survived a 2002 attempt by joint US and Filipino forces to push the organization out of Sulu—has remained a sore-spot in the Philippines' efforts to combat terrorism and armed militants in the south for years.

Abu Sayaaf also has strong connections to terrorist organizations in Indonesia. The southern Philippines have historically served as a base for Indonesian militants to train, plot, and hide out from local security forces. Both the Mujahidin Indonesia Timur and the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) terrorist organizations have reported links to Abu Sayyaf.

"Geographically, Philippines is consisted of many islands, offering perfect hideouts for militants. This makes it difficult for officials to monitor these terrorists," Sidney Jones wrote in a report with the Institute For Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC). "It's no secret that when Indonesian militant groups feel threatened, they run off to the Philippines or Malaysia to gather strength."