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Australian & Inodnesian authorities foil terror attack
A SUSPECTED terrorist group foiled by Australian and Indonesian police was planning an attack twice the size of the first Bali bombings, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) says. AFP deputy commissioner John Lawler said the group was well advanced and had accumulated large quantities of explosives. "Our technical experts are telling us that it's likely to be twice the size of the first Bali bombings," he said on Southern Cross radio. "It's significant because what it's done is prevented, we believe, future bombing attacks in Indonesia. "The group were well advanced." Australian and Indonesian police arrested seven men linked to Jemaah Islamiah (JI) in raids in East Java late last month. Indonesian National Police (INP) shot dead an eighth man during the raids. Police seized 20 bombs, 730kg of explosive material, 45kg of TNT, almost 200 detonators, more than a thousand rounds of ammunition and a cache of weapons. Mr Lawler would not say if the arrested men had a specific target, but said the INP believed the arrested men were planning a bombing campaign directed at a range of public officials. However, he said history showed western interests were usually targets. "We need to look back at the modus operandi of these people and they have targeted western interests in the past and that's a concern," he said. "We think (they were working) within Indonesia and we're working closely with the INP and I think the thing will become clearer the further we go." The seven suspects have been charged by the INP with terrorism-related offences and will face Indonesian courts soon. During the raids, police found charts mapping the structure of JI which showed the group had a board. The charts showed the structure of JI, such as names and departments, had changed compared with previous intelligence on the extremist group, anti-terror police chief Brigadier General Surya Dharma said. It is clear even to laymen that this is an organised operation, he said in the city of Yogyakarta on Indonesia's main island of Java. Posted by: Ebbeanter Ulemp4173 2007-04-04 |
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