Is Islamic State Threat Shifting to Philippines?: QuickTake Q&A

Under assault in Iraq and Syria by a U.S.-led coalition as well as Russia and Iran, Islamic State is losing ground in its original strongholds. While good news for Iraqis and Syrians, this has raised concerns that Islamic State, like al-Qaeda before it, will increasingly metastasize and grow more potent in other places. The seizure by an Islamic State affiliate of a city in the mostly Roman Catholic Philippines has focused that worry on the country’s southern Mindanao region, the site of a Muslim insurgency for the past four decades. Investors have largely shrugged off the threat so far, in part because it hasn’t spread to Manila -- the nation’s capital and financial center.

Four insurgent groups, each from a different part of Mindanao, have pledged their allegiance to the movement and appear to have formed an alliance with each other. Philippine authorities now refer to them as a collective. The most well-known is the Abu Sayyaf Group, which earlier had declared itself an al-Qaeda affiliate. Abu Sayyaf commander Isnilon Hapilon was named Islamic State’s emir, or leader, in the Philippines. The Maute Group, led by brothers Abdullah and Omar Maute, formerly petty criminals, spearheaded the capture of Marawi, the largest Muslim-majority city in the Philippines. Then there’s the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and the least known Ansarul Khilafah Philippines (AKP).