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| Southeast Asia |
| Top planners of Bali bombings 'at large' |
| 2002-11-26 |
| Top planners of the Bali bombings remain at large despite Indonesian police claims that the mastermind behind the October 12 blasts was arrested last week. That's because there are masterminds behind masterminds... Information from regional investigators and intelligence documents obtained by CNN have revealed the possible involvement of a group formed by al Qaeda, called the Rabitatul Mujahideen, in the Bali attacks. "Rabitatul Mujahideen has been created at the request of al Qaeda for the purpose of facilitating interaction between Southeast Asian Mujahideen groups with South Asian and Middle Eastern Mujahideen organizations," says Rohan Gunaratna, an al Qaeda expert. Investigations into the blasts that ripped through the popular nightclub district of Bali, killing at least 180 people, have thrown light on how the al Qaeda network works. Intelligence sources say the expertise for the Bali attacks came from a senior al Qaeda operative from Yemen named Syafullah. Syafullah has been involved in a string of attacks in Yemen and the Middle East, including the 1996 bombing of U.S. military barracks in Saudi Arabia. Two days before the Bali attacks, he traveled on a fake U.S. passport to the Indonesian town of Semarang for the final planning session, according to intelligence sources. In Semarang, members of the Indonesian cell, including a man called Mukhlas and Bali 'mastermind' Imam Samudra, joined him. That structure, analysts say, points to the involvement of the umbrella organization of jihadist groups, the Rabitatul Mujahideen. A member of KMM, a Mujahideen group in Malaysia, also played a prominent role, investigators say. Much of the initial information on the bombings came from the arrest in Malaysia of a MILF member, the largest Muslim separatist group in the Philippines. On November 5 police arrested Amrozi, a foot soldier, who admitted to having purchased the explosives used in the bombings. He was also the owner of the minivan that blew up outside the Sari Club. The man referred to as the 'ringleader' behind the attacks, Imam Samudra, coordinated the deadly chain of events. Samudra told police he used a suicide bomber — a first for Southeast Asia if proven to be true. Samudra reported to Mukhlas, the eldest brother of Amrozi. Earlier this year, Mukhlas replaced a man named Riduan Isamuddin, aka Hambali, as the operations chief for this cell. Hambali continues to head al Qaeda's network in the region and also sits on al Qaeda's leadership committee. An FBI document obtained by CNN said as early as January this year Hambali planned to "conduct small bombings in bars, cafes or nightclubs frequented by westerners in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia." To carry out that task, Hambali asked for, and received help from, al Qaeda. So let's lay this line of control out, and assume it holds true for other operations as well: Amrozi and his disposable friends are all cannon fodder. Imam Samudra's the runner, coordinating operations for Mukhlas, who's the controller. But until not long ago, Hambali was the controller for the cell and now he's probably still only one level up. So figure Hambali controls a half dozen guys like Mukhlas and that gives us an idea of the size of al-Qaeda operations in Indonesia — a half dozen cells, with a half dozen guys in each, which is a total of 36+6+6 (cannon fodder+runners+controllers). There are probably under 60 real al-Qaeda Bad Guys in Indonesia, which is a good thing, since they have enough problem with their own home-grown nuts. Hambali deals with Syafullah, who probably took Omar Faruq's place when he met the guys with the moustachios and truncheons, and he probably reports to the shura, which last we heard was headed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, who reports directly to Binny. Abubakr Bashir is a part of the whole mess, but as a side-issue: he's the "spiritual head" of the Jemaah — the local Learned Elder of Islam. He's supposed to be more an analog of Qazi or Fazl than Mullah Omar. Unless he can slip the charges, they're going to have to find somebody else who's relatively clean to take his place. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 Al-Queda looks more and more like a classic pyramid scheme. [Say don't we have laws against that?] |
| Posted by: Jack 2002-11-27 05:27:28 |