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| Southeast Asia |
| JI has militia to carry out terror attacks |
| 2002-12-23 |
| Indonesian police have uncovered new evidence that regional terror network Jemaah Islamiah (JI), accused of having a role in the Bali bombings, has a militia wing called Askari Islamiah to execute its terror activities. The wing is headed by Zulkarnaen, a new suspect who is still on the run, said Inspector-General Made Mangku Pastika in an interview with a local radio news station from Solo, Central Java. Investigators had already known of the suspect's involvement, but until Saturday had not made his name public, he said. 'Our investigation reveals that the JI has a militia wing called Askari Islamiah to execute its terror activities,' said the chief investigator of the Bali bombing. Keep the gunnies and boomers in one branch so you can disown them later? Kind of like the IRA Gen Pastika was in the town leading a police team taking eight arrested Bali bombing suspects to reconstruct meetings which were allegedly held months before the bombings. The suspects include three key figures - Amrozi; his elder brother Mukhlas, said to be the new head of JI replacing Hambali who had reportedly fled to Pakistan; and Imam Samudra, whose birthname is Abdul Aziz. It is the practice of Indonesian police to reconstruct episodes of a crime using suspects to reinforce evidence before any case is taken to court. Interesting, never heard of this before During Saturday's re-enactment at Imam's rented house in Sanggrahan village near Solo, Gen Pastika said that it was found that Zulkarnaen, the commander of Askari Islamiah, joined the two meetings held in July and August. He said the suspect remained a fugitive and his name emerged publicly for the first time although police had known his involvement prior to this. The suspects continued the re-enactment yesterday at Amrozi's house in Lamongan district, near Solo. 'We regard evidence on Zulkarnaen as the most important element in this reconstruction,' he said. Police spokesman Edward Aritonang said they found out new details about the flow of cash which apparently financed the bombings and the source of the chemicals used in the bombs. He refused to elaborate. We'd all like to know wher the cash came from, although we have a good idea Police believe that Mukhlas was a key planner of the bombings. They said Imam Samudra was the 'field commander' who oversaw the blasts, and Amrozi a 'foot soldier' who bought the explosive chemicals and rented the car used in the bombings. Yup, thats what we thought Police have arrested 20 people allegedly linked to the Bali attack, believed to be the local cell of Al-Qaeda, the terror network blamed for the attacks in New York and Washington on Sept 11 last year. Police say they are amassing more evidence to support statements made by officials in neighbouring countries blaming the attack on Jemaah Islamiah. Bet a lot of local crimes are blamed on them, just to clear the books. Some of them may even be true. |
| Posted by:Steve |