THE British-educated engineer said to be the key bomb-maker for the group suspected of yesterdayâs Bali bombings learnt his craft in one of Osama Bin Ladenâs Afghan training camps. Azahari bin Husin, 48, known as the âDemolition Manâ, took a doctorate in engineering at Reading University in the 1990s before training with the Al-Qaeda leader. He is now being hunted by the Indonesian security services for his involvement in Jemaah Islamiya (JI), a militant group with a history of ties to Al-Qaeda. The group, the most feared terrorist network in southeast Asia, was behind the 2002 Bali attacks in which car bombers killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, in attacks on nightclubs in the tourist resort of Kuta, the scene of one of yesterdayâs explosions. The group has also been blamed for a bomb at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, which killed 12 people in 2003, and a car bomb outside the Australian embassy last year, which killed 11.Only last week, Indonesian security officials warned that although the group had been weakened by a series of arrests, it still posed a threat because two of its masterminds were on the run.
The International Crisis Group, a security think tank, said Azahari and another fugitive, Noordin M Top, could be tempted to attack another western target in Indonesia. Azahari, born in Malaysia, studied in Australia in the 1970s before coming to Britain. He later trained at an Afghan terrorist camp. He and Noordin are wanted for a series of attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings. In an interview five days ago Ansyaad Mbai, a senior counter-terrorism official, told Reuters news agency: âHunting Azahari is still our top priority and our hope is that nobody, including the US and Australia, will become their targets.â
Yesterdayâs attacks on Indonesiaâs main holiday resort follow a series of warnings that terror groups linked to Al-Qaeda pose a continuing threat to western targets in the region. The Foreign Office travel advice for Indonesia states that Britain âcontinues to receive reports that terrorists are planning further attacks on westerners and western interests. âAttacks could occur at any time, anywhere in Indonesia, and are likely to be directed against locations and buildings frequented by foreigners.â
Security sources said yesterdayâs bore all the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda or its local affiliate, JI. Multiple, simultaneous strikes against so-called âsoftâ targets such as restaurants, shopping centres and nightclubs are judged by the groups to create maximum impact. Such targets are typically less well-guarded and are popular haunts for western tourists. JI is dedicated to the creation of a fundamentalist Islamic republic across the region. JI prefers to use improvised explosive devices containing home-made ingredients and delivered in cars. But as Al-Qaedaâs regional arm, its operatives would also consider suicide attacks. Early last month, local police said they had found components for a small bomb at a hotel in Kuta. The parts were found with a letter in Arabic in a bag left outside a lift on the fourth floor of the Kuta Paradiso hotel.
Investigators have previously uncovered evidence of financial links between JI and Al-Qaeda. But there have been hundreds of arrests since the first Bali attacks three years ago and the group has also suffered internal divisions because of its policy of targeting innocent civilians. Some experts suggest that its links to Al-Qaeda may have loosened in recent times. But the security source said: âJemaah Islamiya has very, very close links to Al-Qaeda. There are close ties in their training, ideology, planning and in the type of attacks.â
The source warned that in the past, attacks in Indonesia had been shortly followed by bombings in the Philippines, carried out by the allied Abu Sayyaf group. âThese new bombs could be a catalyst for other attacks,â he warned.
JIâs suspected leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, an elderly cleric, was jailed for subversion two years ago over plans to overthrow the Indonesian government and assassinate the then vice-president. In August this year, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian president, said JI bombmakers remained a threat. âTerrorist cells are still active. They are still hiding, recruiting, networking, trying to find new funding sources, and even planning,â he said. The president added that September and October were favoured months for attacks and forecast an increase in activity.