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al-Qaida Replacing Bagged Leaders in Asia
Long article, EFL:Al-Qaida-linked terrorists in Asia have quickly replaced captured leaders with a new operations chief and top bomb makers who are plotting deadly attacks on international hotels and other Western targets in the region. The arrest of Hambali - Osama bin Ladenâs alleged point man in Asia - and the cracking of a terror ring blamed for bombings in Bali did temporarily disrupt the loose Jemaah Islamiyah network, said a senior Indonesian intelligence adviser. But the leadership vacuum left by Hambaliâs Aug. 11 arrest in Thailand was filled within three weeks, even as the Islamic militant group carried out a recruiting drive in Indonesia - already home to about 2,000 of its 3,000 members. In AP interviews, the adviser and other Asian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity identified the three top new Jemaah Islamiyah leaders as: Zulkarnaen, an Indonesian believed to have replaced Hambali as operations chief; Azahari bin Husin, a Malaysian academic and reputed top bomb maker; and Dulmatin, an Indonesian allegedly involved in the Bali blasts, which killed 202 people a year ago. Zulkarnaen leads an elite squad of militants called Laskar Khos, or special force, according to Lt. Gen. Erwin Mapasseng, Indonesiaâs chief of detectives. He said the group had been recruited from some 300 Indonesians who trained in the past in Afghanistan and the Philippines. "Everyone comes to Afghanistan" Azahari, 46, known as "Dr. Azahari," fled Malaysia in 2001 and is believed to be hiding on Indonesiaâs Sumatra island. Heâs the bomb expert Authorities have singled out Dulmatin as the man who allegedly detonated the Bali blasts. He is also said to have built some of the explosives used in a series of Christmas Eve bombings in Indonesia in 2000. The three men held a meeting in March on Sebatik - a small island off the coast of Borneo - to map out what they see as a holy war, according to the Indonesian intelligence adviser, who said itâs unknown whether Hambali also attended. Sidney Jones, a Jemaah Islamiyah expert who wrote a report on the organization for the International Crisis Group, said progress has been made in capturing and killing militants and stopping terror plots. "The problem is the organization is simply larger and more sophisticated than anyone believed," Jones said. More than 200 Jemaah Islamiyah members have been arrested in five countries. Meantime, Jemaah Islamiyah is reorganizing in three main Indonesian regions - Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Sumatra - said the intelligence adviser. Cash believed to come from al-Qaida to finance attacks is hand carried to Indonesia via Malaysia and arms and explosives are entering Indonesia through the largely unpatrolled waterways between Mindanao island in the southern Philippines and Indonesiaâs Sulawesi island, two intelligence officials said. A typical bombing costs about $10,000, the intelligence adviser said. Plus food, travel, lodging, etc.. Investigations into Jemaah Islamiyah have exposed links between Islamic militants in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore. These include alliances between Jemaah Islamiyah and Kumpulan Militan Malaysia as well as Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines. One big happy inbred family Seven militants recently arrested in Indonesiaâs North Sulawesi region admitted plans to train with Moro Front guerrillas in Mindanao, said Philippine Brig. Gen. Victor Corpus. Training was detected in a vast, marshy section of Mindanao called the Buliok Complex, prompting the army to launch an offensive last February. On the Philippinesâ southern Jolo island, escaped Filipino and Indonesian hostages reported two Indonesians, believed to be Jemaah Islamiyah operatives, training about 100 Abu Sayyaf recruits in explosive-making and combat this year. Which the MILF and Abu Sayyaf deny. Yet, cooperation with Washington is becoming a political liability in countries with large Muslim populations furious over U.S. policy in the Mideast. You knew they had to work that in somewhere. Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri and other national leaders donât publicly mention Jemaah Islamiyah by name in the country, which is home to more Muslims than any other nation, roughly 200 million. And the government has not declared Jemaah Islamiyah a terrorist organization - making it impossible to prosecute membership in it as a crime - and has refused to shut down Islamic boarding schools associated with militants. Posted by: Steve 2003-10-16 |
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