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| Southeast Asia |
| Attack risk 'grows with JI prisoner releases' |
| 2009-07-17 |
| A REPORT released yesterday warned of the risk of another Bali bombing-style attack by terrorists. The report, released just 24 hours before bombs were detonated at the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Jakarta, said another attack was becoming increasingly more likely as more Jemaah Islamiah members were released from prison. News.com.au's story from yesterday: A REPEAT of the 2002 Bali bombings is becoming increasingly likely as more Jemaah Islamiah members are released from prison, according to a new report. A growing number of jihadi members of hardline Indonesian group JI are being released from jails and they might urge further terrorist attacks, the report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said. A growing number of jihadi members of hardline Indonesian group JI are being released from jails and they might urge further terrorist attacks, the report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said. Members of JI were behind the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings which killed 225 people, including 92 Australians. "We argue that two recent developments - the current leadership tensions and the release from prison of former JI members - at least raise the possibility that splinter factions might now seek to re-energise the movement through violent attacks," the report said. The report authors, Noor Huda Ismail from the Jakarta-based International Institute for Peacebuilding and Carl Ungerer from ASPI, said that although the possibility of another attack like the Bali bombings remains low, it will continue to grow. "There is evidence that some of these (former prisoners) are gravitating towards hardline groups who continue to advocate al-Qaeda style attacks against Western targets." The report, based on interviews with former members and prisoners, said that more than 100 JI followers have been released from prison. The report also said that militants from the southern Philippines moving to Indonesia could help breed a "new generation of radicalised fringe groups". "Together with regional countries such as Australia, the Indonesian Government, religious and community leaders will need to take effective action in order to stem the emergence of these radical movements." After bombing attacks in Bali in 2002 and 2005, JI became more "mainstream" and began opposing violent actions, the report said. Small groups of members still support jihad. |
| Posted by:tipper |