USA Today, 7/24/2004 2:14 AM
World
Jemaah Islamiyah fails to regroup, carry out attacks in Southeast
Asia
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The Jemaah Islamiyah terror group has tried to
organize new terror attacks in Southeast Asia in the last year, but failed because it
didn't have enough money, support from other militant groups, or "thinkers and
planners among its ranks," officials said.
The al-Qaeda-linked organization was gutted by the arrest of scores of militants after
Sept. 11, 2001 — including Hambali, the group's alleged operations chief, a Malaysian
government official told The Associated Press on Friday.
Remnants of Jemaah Islamiyah have made several unsuccessful attempts to regroup
in Indonesia so they could launch more strikes, he said on condition of anonymity.
One of their biggest problems was they "could not agree on a leader to take over from
Hambali," he said.
The alleged high-ranking al-Qaeda leader and the brains behind Jemaah Islamiyah
was Southeast Asia's most-wanted fugitive before his August 2003 arrest by Thai
police, who turned him over to U.S. custody.
Hambali is suspected of orchestrating the Oct. 12, 2002, Bali bombings that killed
202 people, and of hosting at least two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers in Kuala
Lumpur ahead of the attacks in the United States.
In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. on Saturday, Malaysian Prime
Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the Jemaah Islamiyah threat in Malaysia has
been minimized.
"I do not say that they are destroyed, but if there is any more, we are able to contain
them," Abdullah said.
A Malaysian security official agreed that the network had been crippled by arrests in
Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia in the last two years, but said now is
not the time to be complacent.
"The threat has subsided but there is still a small group out there which could pose
problems if authorities in the region let down their guard," the official said on condition
of anonymity.
The first government official said authorities in Southeast Asia have in the past year
gained the upper hand in cutting off Jemaah Islamiyah's support from militant groups
in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
That official said the crackdown on Jemaah Islamiyah cells in the region had also left
the group without funds to mount attacks.
"The threat posed by Jemaah Islamiyah, especially in Indonesia, is still there as
several key members are still at large," the official said. "But they are on the run ... it
is important that authorities keep up this pressure."
Abdullah said that the Indonesian authorities "are working very hard to trace and nab"
several Jemaah Islamiyah operatives who were on the run. Two of them are Malaysian
explosives experts Azahari Husin and Nordin Mohamad Top.
Malaysia's intelligence chief, Yusuf Abdul Rahman, said Indonesian police last month
discovered a will written by Nordin for his wife, expressing his intention to be a suicide
bomber, The Star daily newspaper reported.
The Star cited regional security sources as saying that Nordin was heavily armed and
is believed to have strapped his body with explosives.
--The Associated Press--
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