ASSOCIATED PRESS, Tuesday July 5, 7:12 PM
Regional terror group developing close links with more
Indonesian militants, says expert
Weakened by arrests, terror group Jemaah Islamiyah is establishing new links with
militants in conflict zones in Indonesia by building personal relationships with local
extremists, a regional terror expert said Tuesday.
Jemaah Islamiyah operatives met several Muslim extremists at military training
camps in eastern Ambon and Poso towns, where there have been frequent deadly
clashes between Christians and Muslims, said Sidney Jones, Southeast Asia project
director for the International Crisis Group.
"There's clear evidence of this already, that many of these people in the pro-bombing
faction (of Jemaah Islamiyah) could find local partners to work with," Jones said.
"We're not dealing with the organization that was the al-Qaida affiliate in 2001 and
2002," she said. "It's increasingly important to see how these personal networks
work, how people tap into them."
Indonesian authorities have made numerous arrests of suspected militants in recent
months. Seventeen suspects were detained last week.
"The terrorist networks in Indonesia are weakening," Jones said, although she warned
that Jemaah Islamiyah was likely "to stay intact" and remain a threat. She said it was
"absolutely critical" to understand Muslim militants in Ambon and Poso to better
prevent future terror attacks.
Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed
202, the Jakarta J.W. Marriott bombing in 2003 that killed at least 11 and the
Australian Embassy attack last year, also in Indonesia's capital.
Jones claimed Jemaah Islamiyah was involved in the two Islamic militant attacks in
May, in the eastern Indonesian province of Maluku, where six people were killed at a
remote police post, and Sulawesi, where a bomb attack in a market left 21 people
dead.
"Neither of these attacks in May were JI operations, but they all involve some element
or have some tenuous links to JI," she said, without revealing the source of her
information.
She said Jemaah Islamiyah operatives forged close, personal links with Muslim
extremists in the Maluku regional capital of Ambon, and Poso on Sulawesi island.
About 9,000 people died in Maluku between 1999-2001 during violence between
Muslims and Christians.
Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press.
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