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.