Abu Sayyaf was a jihadist group that was active in the Jolo and Basilan islands in the Philippines from 1991 to 2024. It pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2014, becoming a part of its self-proclaimed global caliphate. The group was founded in 1991 by Abdurajik Abubakar Janjalani, and it carried out bombings, kidnappings, extortion, assassinations, rape, drive-by shootings, and drug trafficking in alliance with the 14K Triad and formerly al-Qaeda before its merger with ISIS. By 2016, Abu Sayyaf had 300+ fighters, and they made money by holding foreign tourists for ransom in the southern Philippines. In 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte promised a new war against Abu Sayyaf, reinvigorating the fight against the IS-affiliated group. On 22 March 2024, the Philippines announced that Abu Sayyaf had been "fully dismantled," with the 20 surviving members of the group in Sulu and Basilan negotiating towards a surrender.
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