Doubts were raised about the origin of the suicide bombers, until Indonesia’s National Police confirmed recently that both individuals were indeed Indonesian nationals.

Nevertheless, for the local population, it was clear that this act was the responsibility of foreign terrorist fighters (FTF).

The Sulu islands region is the cradle of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), a terrorist organization founded by a charismatic Filipino leader, Abdurajak Janjalani. Janjalani received a scholarship from the Muammar Gaddafi government and studied Arabic and theology in Libya in the 1980s. Abdurajak and his brother — Khaddafy Janjalani — are Afghan jihad veterans.

However, some of our interviews in the Southern Philippines challenge the importance of this experience.

Over the years, ASG factions — like the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) before and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF, a splinter cell of the MILF) nowadays — have hosted Indonesian terrorists. From Umar Patek to Harry Kuncoro, Suryadi Mas’oed and Parawijayanto, several Indonesian terrorists have been sheltered and trained in the southern Philippines while struggling with their Moro counterparts against the Manila government.

What can be called the “Indo-Moro” connection has existed since 1977, when the MILF splintered from the Moro National liberation Front (MNLF). The Indo-Moro relationship was deeper than merely a terrorist movement. Indeed, the political agenda of the MNLF and the MILF was to “free” the “Bangsamoro” people and was not related to the current violent jihad movement.

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