AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Mon Apr 2, 2007 3:45 AM ET
Al-Qaeda-linked terror group trained in Indonesia: report
JAKARTA (AFP) - Islamic militants from a group linked to Al-Qaeda in Indonesia held
armed training exercises on the slopes of a volcano on the island of Java, a report
said Monday.
[PHOTO: AFP/File Photo: A police officer holds up a combo photo, 23 March 2007,
showing suspected members of... ]
The militants from southeast Asian group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), blamed for a series
of bloody attacks including the Bali bombings, held at least two training exercises
high up on the 3,371-foot (1,027-metre) Mount Sumbing, the Tempo magazine said.
The intelligence came from two men taken into custody by Indonesian anti-terror
police during blitzes last month that uncovered large quantities of explosives, killed
one suspect and led to seven arrests.
Suspect Sarwi Edi, one of the two who revealed the exercises, told police more than a
dozen people were involved in the second one in January, including 38-year-old Abu
Dujana, the hunted man thought to lead JI.
Edi also said another suspected militant, Zulkarnain, witnessed the training, the report
said. Zulkarnain is wanted in connection with the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202
people and were blamed on JI.
Edi, 40, said that eight people from the capital Jakarta, six people living near the
volcano in central Java's Temanggung district and four instructors took part in
January's exercise.
Saiful Anam, the other suspected militant who talked about the training, told police he
also took part and that the eight from Jakarta were members of "Jakarta Asykari", or
JI's armed wing in the capital.
The 27-year-old said that participants carried M-16 automatic rifles and practiced
assembling the guns and taking them apart, but were afraid to use them in case
somebody overheard the crack of gunfire.
He said the militants were trained in day and night observation techniques, according
to the report.
Edi said the first exercise took place in December and involved 10 people, all people
living near the foot of the volcano on Indonesia's main island of Java.
Apart from the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings, JI has also been accused of roles in the
August 2003 Marriott Hotel and September 2004 Australian embassy attacks in
Jakarta.
The United States says the group aims to establish a pan-Islamic state in Southeast
Asia through violent jihad.
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