Add it to the list. The Abu Sayyef – a known al-Qaeda organization – are claiming links to Iraq.

“It’s so we would have something to spend on chemicals for bomb-making and for the movement of our people,” Sali told a reporter this week, renewing earlier claims of support from Iraq.

The payments, while small, provide additional evidence of a link between Iraq and the Abu Sayyaf — a group with long-standing ties to al Qaeda and its global terror network.

The boast of an Iraqi connection was taken seriously after the expulsion of an Iraqi diplomat from Manila last week amid charges he had been in contact with the Abu Sayyaf by telephone.