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| Southeast Asia |
| Indonesia: Splinter groups pose new terror threat, says expert |
| 2007-10-09 |
| The fragmentation of the Islamic terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiah, poses a major new security threat for Indonesia and its neighbors, according to terrorism expert, Sidney Jones. Jones, director of the International Crisis Group's South-East Asian office, says JI is no longer the biggest threat to Western targets and civilians but a number of splinter groups are now capable of causing serious attacks. "The risk of an attack on civilians endorsed by the JI leadership is now very low," Jones told The Australian, a national daily. "The biggest threat now is that the younger militants of JI could be used as a recruiting pool for splinter groups like that of (Bali bomber) Noordin Top." Top, an explosives expert, was alleged to be one of the masterminds of the 2002 Bali bombing which killed 202 people and injured over 200 others. Top is still a fugitive and among the most wanted men in Asia. Jones told The Australian that Top and his followers were still interested in launching attacks on Westerners. Since the 2002 attack, more than 400 members of the terrorist organisation are reported to have been arrested across four countries. Ken Conboy, an author who has written about terrorism, told Adnkronos International (AKI) that the splinter groups could put together a team like the one that carried out the small scale bombings in Bali in 2005. On October 1 2005, bombs exploded at two sites in Jimbaran and Kuta, in Bali. Twenty people were killed, and 129 people were injured by three bombers who killed themselves in the attacks. Conboy, the author of 'The Second Front - Inside Asia's Most Dangerous Terrorist Network', says the Indonesian police have done a good job in cracking down on terrorists. "It is right to praise the Indonesian police that in the last two years has managed to stop any attacks," he told AKI. |
| Posted by:Fred |