MANILA, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group will be quashed by the end of the year 2010 as the military steps up its offensives against the infighting-plagued militant group, a senior military official said on Sunday.

    "We are confident of ending the Abu Sayyaf problem," Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr, chief spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines told a local radio.

    However, Brawner said that the authorities' latest strategy is not an "all-out war" but a package of solutions that complement the military operations with development projects that aims to solve severe poverty in southern Philippines, believed by experts to be the root cause of Abu Sayyaf insurgency.

    The Abu Sayyaf was founded in earlier 1990s by Islamic extremists and it has degenerated into a loose alliance of local armed bandit groups in Sulu and Basilan islands over the past decade, carrying out a series of public terrorist attacks and high-profile kidnapping for ransom cases.

    Washington blacklisted the group as a foreign terrorist organization and since 2002 has been sending non-combatant troops to southern Philippines to advice their Filipino counterparts on how to battle the militants.

    Officials said the strength of the Abu Sayyaf significantly declined over the past years to around 300 at present, as a result of the U.S.-backed military assaults and the infighting within the militant group's ranks.

    "The infighting among their leaders will naturally result to the downfall of the Abu Sayyaf," Brawner said.

    Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has vowed to eradicate the Abu Sayyaf, together with other insurgents, before she steps down in May 2010 but analysts doubt her administration's determination and capability to reach that goal.