The Star Online, Thursday January 5, 2006
Terror expert says Jemaah Islamiyah split into bombing faction
SINGAPORE (AP) - Terror group Jemaah Islamiyah is divided between a few dozen
militants involved in bombings and a larger "mainstream'' of up to 1,000 people who
pose a long-term threat to Indonesia as their leaders try to regroup, an expert said
Thursday.
The analysis by Sidney Jones, one of the world's leading experts on the Islamic
extrem! ist group linked to al-Qaida, indicated that different tactics and goals exist
within the organization amid intense pressure from law enforcement authorities.
At a forum in Singapore, Jones said JI militants involved in bomb plots number up to
50, and are divided into cells of five to 10 people based in central and eastern Java
island.
The larger group, however, is not involved in bombings but continues to conduct
military training for members and is suspected of carrying out robberies to raise funds,
Jones said.
"The real issue is what's going to happen to the JI 'mainstream,''' she said at a forum
sponsored by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. "I don't think
we're going to see acts of violence on the part of the JI 'mainstream' for some time to
come.''
She noted that Abu Rusdan, a "mainstream'' leader who received militant training in
Afghanistan, had bee! n released after serving a jail term for sheltering a bomber in the
deadly attacks on Bali in 2002.
Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for five suicide bombings targeting Western
interests since 2002, the most recent on the resort island of Bali three months ago.
The attacks killed more than 240 people.
Indonesian police scored a big success against Jemaah Islamiyah, or JI, in November
when they killed its chief bomb-making expert, Azahari bin Husin, in a raid. But a top
accomplice, Noordin Moh Top, remains a fugitive.
Jones, project director for the International Crisis Group in Jakarta, said JI's bombing
faction had considered kidnapping to raise funds from ransoms or as a form of terror.
She said that information came from a man who helped Noordin hide in East Java in
early 2005.
At that time, Jones said, Noordin ordered a survey of possible kidnapping attempts or
other atta! cks on Americans working at an electrical plant, a synagogue in the city of
Surabaya and the ethnic Chinese owner of a mushroom processing company. No
attacks were carried out, apparently because of police pressure, she said.
Jones said the JI "mainstream'' did not share the bombing faction's tactic of terrorizing
the United States and its allies with indiscriminate bombing, and that its main goal
was the establishment of an Islamic state in Indonesia.
While "mainstream'' JI leaders distance themselves from the bombings, she said,
some rank-and-file members could be supporting the more violent faction.
Jones noted that the JI bombing faction had tried to woo militants linked to
the Muslim charity Kompak who have been involved in local conflicts such as
those between Muslims and Christians in the Maluku regional capital of
Ambon, and Poso on Sulawesi island.
"They have been invite! d to take part in bombings by the JI bombing faction, but thus
far have refused,'' she said.
JI members have links to militants in the Philippines, but experts at the forum said
there was no clear evidence that the group was involved in the Islamic insurgency in
southern Thailand.
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