Philippines: YouTube Video Brings In The Terrorist Cash

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October 16, 2007: The government says that in the first six months of the year, about a thousand rebels were killed or captured. This included 966 from the NPA, and 70 Abu Sayyaf.

October 15, 2007: Canada warned its citizens to stay away from the southern Philippines, because of the danger from Islamic militants.

October 14, 2007: NPA leaders want to resume peace talks with the government. These talks have been suspended since 2004. The NPA is suffering because it is now officially an international terrorist organization. This hurts fund raising, and has led to the prosecution of some of the exiled leadership.

The government believes a recent YouTube video, which was basically an appeal for donations for Abu Sayyaf, worked. A wealthy donor from the Persian Gulf is said to have sent Abu Sayyaf a large sum of money, which will enable to Abu Sayyaf to carry out more terrorist attacks in the Philippines. The U.S. and Arab Persian Gulf countries have increasingly been going after wealthy Arabs who donate large sums (often a million or more dollars) to Islamic charities that are actually conduits for funds going to Islamic terrorist groups.

October 12, 2007: The army has found out that they actually captured Indonesian terrorist Dulmatin last May, but the picture they had of him was several months old, and the terrorist had lost so much weight, because of the constant pursuit, that he no longer looked much like the photo the soldiers had of him. So Dulmatin was released, the troops believing him to be an innocent bystander.

October 10, 2007: In the south, there was another clash between the army and the MILF. The ceasefire down there is falling apart.

October 9, 2007: The NPA threatened to make additional attacks on foreign mining companies in remote areas. The NPA says it is trying to shut down the mining operations because of environmental damage. The companies say the NPA is trying to extort money.