Moro National Liberation Front Hapilon joined the
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1985 and traveled between
Sulu and Basilan. While he was with the rebel group, he took up
Arabic and
madrasa education again and became the spokesperson of Commander Barahama Sali in 1992. A strong military offensive in 1994 and the death of Commander Sali forced them to flee to Sampinit Complex in
Sumisip, where he met
Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani.
Abu Sayyaf Disaffected with the MNLF while in hiding in Sampinit, Hapilon joined the
Abu Sayyaf group led by
Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, who also became his religious mentor. He eventually rose through the ranks of Abu Sayyaf, becoming one of the group's leaders. In June 2002, Hapilon and four other
Abu Sayyaf leaders—
Khadaffy Janjalani,
Hamsiraji Marusi Sali,
Aldam Tilao, and
Jainal Antel Sali, Jr.—were indicted in absentia by the
United States government for their role in the 2000
Dos Palmas kidnappings of seventeen Filipinos and three Americans, and the eventual beheading of one of the Americans, Guillermo Sobero. The August 2000 kidnapping of Jeffrey Schilling, and the deaths of two hostages—American missionary Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap—were also cited in the indictment. Hapilon was the only one of the five indicted still alive by 2017. On February 24, 2006, he was added to the FBI's
Most Wanted Terrorists list, along with Janjalani and Jainal Sali, Jr. The
Rewards For Justice Program of the
US State Department offered up to
US$5 million (approx. 256 million
Philippine pesos at the time of his death) for information leading to his capture. In May 2008, Hapilon was shot in the hand during a military operation in
Jolo. His son, Tabari, also an Abu Sayyaf fighter, was fatally wounded. Hapilon was wounded in April 2013, in a military offensive that killed eight other Islamist militants in
Tipo-Tipo, Basilan. Hapilon sustained a "slight wound" on the head during the raid, but his followers managed to drag him off safely before the soldiers could seize control of their base. There were United States intelligence reports claiming he may have suffered a stroke at some point.
Islamic State in the Philippines On July 23, 2014, a video of Hapilon along with other masked men was uploaded to
YouTube, where they
swore their allegiance to
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of
IS. On April 9, 2016, Hapilon and Basilan-based commander Furuji Indama led 150 Abu Sayyaf fighters on
an attack against government forces in
Tipo-Tipo, Basilan. At least eighteen soldiers were killed and more than fifty other soldiers were wounded in the ten-hour shootout. Hapilon's son, Ubaida, was among the five Abu Sayyaf fighters killed in the encounter. Additional government forces were deployed to capture or kill Hapilon. A June 21, 2016, video by IS entitled "The Solid Structure" recognized Hapilon as the
mujahid authorized to lead the
jihadists of the Islamic State in the
Philippines, and designated him as the
emir for
Southeast Asia. The video also called on Southeast Asian Islamist militants to travel to the Philippines and engage in
jihad. As of January 2017, IS acknowledged him as their member. He was known to be in Butig, Lanao del Sur for rectifying the
Maute group and joining
Abu Sayyaf to establish Islamic State in the Philippines. He was later promoted as emir of the "East Asia Province". In May 2017, during a joint operation of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines and the
Philippine National Police to capture Hapilon, militants of the
Maute group launched an
attack on Marawi and it was reported that armed militants had occupied several parts of the city. As of that time, Hapilon was in Marawi, alongside his supporters. He was believed to be injured. In October 16, Isnilon and Omar Maute were killed in a military operation in Marawi, which rescued 17 hostages. The deaths were confirmed by Defense Secretary
Delfin Lorenzana. Lorenzana announced on October 21 that the
FBI confirmed that the DNA sample of a body recovered by AFP matched that of Hapilon. This was confirmed by Lamont Siller, the FBI's legal
attaché at the
Embassy of the United States, Manila as well as the embassy's spokeswoman Molly Koscina. ==Notes==