A look at major terror attacks in Southeast Asia
Feb 3, 2012, 2:27 AM
(AP) – A look at major attacks in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia attributed to the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group and their allies from the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah.
_ April 1995: Abu Sayyaf militants raid the mostly Christian town of Ipil in southern Philippines, killing more than 50 people after robbing banks and stores and burning the town center.
_ April 2000: Abu Sayyaf gunmen seize 21 people, including Western tourists, from a Malaysian resort and take them to their Philippine stronghold on Jolo Island; most are released in exchange for millions of dollars in ransom reportedly paid by Libya.
_ May 2001: Americans and other tourists are snatched from the Dos Palmas resort in the southwestern Philippine province of Palawan, starting a yearlong kidnapping saga that leaves several hostages dead, including Americans Guillermo Sobero and Martin Burnham.
_ August 2001: 33 Christian residents of Balobo village on southern Philippines’ Basilan Island are taken hostage and 10 are beheaded.
_ October 2002: Triple bombings on Bali, Indonesia, kill 202, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians. Police say al-Qaida helped fund the attacks.
_ October 2002: A nail-laden bomb detonates in Zamboanga city in southern Philippines, killing four, including an American Green Beret. Four more bomb attacks during the month, killing 16, are blamed on Abu Sayyaf.
_ August 2003: A suicide bomber attacks the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, killing 11.
_ February 2004: A bomb on a passenger ferry in Manila Bay kills 116 in the Philippines’ worst terrorist strike.
_ April 2004: Three crewmen of a Malaysian tugboat are abducted off Malaysia’s Sabah state; they are believed to have either died of illness or killed by their captors.
_ September 2004: A suicide bomber detonates a ton of explosives packed into a delivery van outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, killing 11 and wounding 200.
_ February 2005: Almost simultaneous bombings in Manila and two southern cities kill eight and wound more than 100.
_ October 2005: Triple suicide bombers kill 20 in attacks on restaurants in Bali.
_ January 2009: Gunmen on Jolo kidnap three aid workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross from Switzerland, Italy and the Philippines. They are freed separately, reportedly after ransom is paid.
_ July 2009: Suicide-bomb attacks on the J.W. Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta kill seven people and wound more than 50.
_ July 2011: Filipino militants kidnap an American, her teenage son and Filipino cousin. She is freed two months later and the boy escapes in December.
_ February 2012: Gunmen seize two tourists, one Dutch and one Swiss, in Tawi-Tawi province in southern Philippines.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
