Abu Sayyaf Hostage Crisis

Date: May 27, 2001 • Location: Baheli, Philippines

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 2001–2002.

Members of Abu Sayyaf, an Islamist separatist group, seize twenty hostages from an affluent island resort on Palawan in the Philippines; the hostage crisis would not be resolved until June 2002.

Abu Sayyaf (ASG), officially as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, is a Jihadist militant group, pirate group and former province of the Islamic State that follows the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It is based in and around Jolo and Basilan islands in the southwestern part of the Philippines, where Moro groups had been engaged in an insurgency seeking to create a Moro nation state. The group was responsible for the Philippines' deadliest terrorist attack, the bombing of the MV Superferry 14 which killed 116 people in 2004. The name of the group is derived from Arabic abu, and sayyaf. As of April 2023, the group was estimated to have about 20 members, down from 1,250 in 2000.