Islamist Insurgency and Terrorism Report – November 2025
In December 2025, PSA Intelligence recorded four Islamist insurgency-related violent incidents. There were two grenade attacks, two military encounters against members of the Maute group, and one armed clash between two Moro Islamic Liberation Front groups, an one assassination attack.
Four Islamist-related violent incidents were reported in November 2025, which transpired in the Lanao provinces, in Maguindanao del Sur, and in North Cotabato. Two of these incidents were military clashes against Maute militants, while one was a rido-related clash between two Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) groups, and an assassination incident of a vendor by MILF-linked assailants.
Police stated that the suspect, who was linked to the MILF, alleged that the victim was a military informant. Meanwhile, a local news outlet initially reported that the incident was possibly related to a business dispute, as some bakeshop owners have previously complained about how the increased presence of mobile pandesal (salted bread) vendors has led to a decrease in their sales.
Authorities have yet to disclose further information on the motive behind the incident. Nonetheless, analysts note that assassination attacks against suspected military informants are more common with New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Negros Island than with MILF militants in Central Mindanao.
More recently, information alleging that the Bondi beach mass shooters in Sydney, Australia received military-style training in the Philippines has been circulating in several media outlets. Australian authorities stated that the suspects were radicalized by “Islamic State Ideology,” leading some international media outlets to view their travel to the Philippines as causally related. Philippine government officials have refuted these claims so far, while the concerned news outlets have not clarified the basis of these claims beyond the complex history of Islamist armed groups in the country.
PSA analysts reiterate that since the Marawi Siege in 2017, the capacities of Islamist-linked insurgent groups in Mindanao have significantly been reduced. While remaining Islamist threat actors retain some low-level capacity for small-scale violence, there are currently no indicators that remnants have the capacity to train foreign terrorist fighters.
PSA Intelligence Security Analyst Team Inside
The PSA Intelligence team of security and risk analysts monitor thousands of intelligence sources across the Philippines and broader APAC region daily. PSA Intelligence supplies well-known international corporate security operations centers and enterprise risk management teams the reports and data required for their operations.
Contact us to for access to our regular risk management reports and data-feeds. Be sure to talk to us about our analyst vetted, reliable data feeds for your AI driven risk management systems too. We have 20+ years of back-data and keep the data acquisition pipelines running so you don't have to.
PSA Intelligence: Regional Reporting Capabilities
Our fast-paced intelligence pipeline is driven by a dedicated team of Manila-based security analysts that monitor the Philippine landscape every day. We bring together on-the-ground local insight with large scale data monitoring and cut through the noise to deliver the concise, actionable intelligence that our clients rely on to navigate their risks.
Regular Briefs & Industry Monitors
We provide a weekly digest of key political, economic, and security developments and analysis of their short and long-term impact on the local and regional business environment. Our Industry Monitors deliver regular summaries of key developments in manufacturing, energy, mining, and tourism.
Our Cyber Risks Briefs detail emerging cyberthreats, digital security vulnerabilities, and regulatory shifts, while our Economic Briefs provide macroeconomic snapshots covering inflation, trade markers, and fiscal policy. We also publish Health Risks Briefs tracking local disease statistics and healthcare capacities.
Targeted Crime & Kidnapping Reports
Our teams produce continuous updates and analysis on developing crime and safety trends targeting corporates and staff, ranging from opportunistic petty crime to syndicated criminal activity. This includes deep dives on known modus operandi, suspect profiles, and sociopolitical environments.
Additionally, we monitor Kidnapping Related Incidents in the Philippines, tracking publicly-known abduction cases, motives, victim profiles, and the broader regional developments that influence these threat vectors.
Insurgency, Terrorism, and Civil Unrest
We conduct ongoing analysis of activities of Communist insurgents in the Philippines, including their estimated operational capabilities, regional hotspots, and the progress of government peace processes.
Our coverage extends to Islamist Insurgency and Terrorism in Mindanao, assessing activities not limited to terrorism-related motivations but also criminal, personal, and cultural factors. We provide continuous assessments of political stability, strikes, protests, and broader civil unrest dynamics affecting operational continuity.
Ask an Analyst
Do you have a question regarding this report that you would like to ask our team of security and risk analysts? Ask here.
Query Sent
Thank you. Our intelligence team will respond to your query shortly.