[jaguar]

Influence is one way of putting it. Active muslim extremist group with links to Al Queda, a history of kidnapping people and a constant thorn in the side of the government got decades is another.

There are actually multiple groups based in the South, Abu Syaf (sp?) is the best known for their kidnapping operations but are more common thugs and islamic extremeists. From memory there is another group, MMO I think who are better at the koran waving side of things. Both have been bitchslapped hard in the last couple of years by the army working with US specops.