Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines said joint military training will be conducted from next year to counter terror group Abu Sayyaf, who are believed to be behind the rampant piracy and kidnapping in the Sulu Sea, The Jakarta Post reported.

The Sulu Sea, which separates the island of Borneo and the Philippines, has been under threat with Abu Sayyaf militants kidnapping tourists, fishermen and others on islands off the coast of Sabah, to fund their activities with the millions of dollars paid in ransom.

Indonesian Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu told the daily that military training will take place in Indonesia’s Tarakan in North Kalimantan, Malaysia’s Tawao Island and the Philippines’ Bongao Island.

He added that each country would first begin their own training respectively, from January 2017, before the joint military training commences later next year.

According to Ryacudu, the objective for the joint military training was to form a special force tasked to face the notorious Abu Sayyaf militant group that masterminded a series of recent kidnappings in the Sulu waters.

“It’s part of concrete action we, Asean countries, are taking to secure the region,” he was quoted as saying by The Jakarta Post.

Ryacudu added that the training locations would eventually become the base from which the joint task force will operate in securing the Sulu Sea.

The joint army training decision came out of a meeting between the three countries’ defence ministers, on the sidelines of the Asean Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) retreat last week in Vientiane, Laos.