Associated Press, Wednesday November 9, 2005 1:39 AM ET
Terrorist Training Camp Found in Indonesia
By CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press Writer
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Anti-terror police discovered a recently abandoned jungle
training camp where militants taught bomb-making skills to scores of extremists,
security officials said Wednesday, weeks after suicide attackers launched fresh
strikes on the tourist island of Bali.
Instructors at the camp in Maluku province — the scene of bloody fighting between
Muslim and Christians from 1999 to 2002 — were graduates of terrorist academies in
Afghanistan and the Philippines, said police Lt. Col. Leonidas Braksan.
The isolated camp deep in the jungle had been running for several years and was
attended by militants from all over Indonesia, he said, showing how terrorists have
been able to maintain training networks despite a nationwide crackdown.
Police raided the camp on Seram Island earlier this month after receiving a tip from
recently arrested militants, Braksan said. Officers found several huts there, as well as
white flags used as markers for military exercises. Villagers living nearby heard
gunfire and occasional explosions from the direction of the camp, he said.
"They were teaching the tactics of war, including using weapons and making bombs,"
Braksan said, citing testimony from captured graduates of the camp. "The place was
very isolated and difficult to get to."
There were no indications that camp graduates were among those who planned or
carried out the Oct. 1 bombings on three crowded restaurants on Bali island that
killed 23 people, including three attackers, he said.
Religious fighting on Maluku and nearby Sulawesi Island drew militants from all over
Indonesia between 1999 and 2002, many of whom went to take part in terror attacks
elsewhere in the sprawling country.
Foreign terrorists looking for a replacement venue for Afghanistan after the U.S.
invasion there traveled to the region and funded and taught at other camps, security
officials say.
Maj. Gen. Ansyaad Mbai, a top Indonesian anti-terror official, said the region
continues to be an important recruiting ground for Indonesian militant groups.
Mbai said a militant wanted in connection with the slaying of five paramilitary police
officers in Maluku in May was suspected of running the jungle camp in Seram.
He said there were likely other camps in the region, although he stressed they may
not be permanent settlements.
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