The 10,000 ton “Superferry 14” catches fire while transporting about 900 people between islands in the central Philippines. About 116 people are killed as the ship runs aground and partially submerges. Abu Sayyaf, a militant group frequently linked to al-Qaeda, takes credit for the disaster. The Philippine government initially claims it was an accident, but an investigation of the wreckage concludes several months later that the boat sank because of an explosion. Six members of Abu Sayyaf are charged with murder, including Khaddafy Janjalani and Abu Sulaiman, said to be the top leaders of the group. Investigators believe Abu Sayyaf targeted the ship because the company that owned it refused to pay protection money. [BBC, 10/11/2004] Time magazine entitles an article about the incident “The Return of Abu Sayyaf” and notes that the bombing shows the group has reconstituted itself under the leadership of Janjalani after nearly being destroyed by arrests and internal divisions. [Time, 8/23/2004]
January 30, 2007: Bin Laden’s Brother-in-Law Khalifa Murdered in Mysterious Circumstances
Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, brother-in-law and former best friend of Osama bin Laden, is killed in Madagascar. Khalifa’s family claims that a large group of armed men broke into his house and killed him as he slept. His computer and laptop is stolen. Khalifa was living in Saudi Arabia but traded precious stones and was staying at a mine that he owns. His family says they do not believe he had been killed by locals. There is considerable evidence Khalifa was involved in funding al-Qaeda-connected plots in the Philippines and Yemen in the 1990s (see December 16, 1994-February 1995, December 16, 1994-May 1995, and 1996-1997 and After). Since that time, Khalifa has steadfastly denied any involvement in terrorism and has criticized bin Laden. CNN reporter Nic Robertson asks, “Was he killed by bin Laden’s associates for speaking out against the al-Qaeda leader or, equally feasibly, by an international intelligence agency settling an old score?” Just one week earlier, a Philippine newspaper published a posthumous 2006 interview with Khaddafy Janjalani, former leader of Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim militant group in the southern Philippines. In the interview, Janjalani claimed Abu Sayyaf received $122,000 from Khalifa and bomber Ramzi Yousef in the mid-1990s (see Early 1991). [CNN, 1/31/2007; Reuters, 2/1/2007] And four days before his murder, Interpol put out a bulletin about him, notifying a number of US intelligence agencies (see January 26, 2007). [Guardian, 3/2/2007] His murderers have not been found or charged.
