[RAPPLER] Indonesia's most wanted terrorist may have been killed after a shootout between the murderous Moslem Mujahidin Indonesia Timur....the 'Holy Warriors of East Indonesia.' An umbrella group active in the Poso area of Sulawesi. They are headed by Shaykh Abu Wardah, aka Santoso who calls himself the Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi of Indonesia. Every once in awhile they chop somebody's head off or blow something up, but other than that they're not much of a threat to civilization as we know it..
(MIT or East Indonesia Mujahideen) and task force Tinombala.
Santoso, alias Abu Wardah, who leads MIT, is believed to be one of those who died on Monday, July 18. MIT has pledged allegiance to ISIS and has grabbed credit for past terror attacks.
Central Sulawesi Police Chief, who also serves as head of Tinombala Task Force, Brigadier General Rudy Sufahriadi was not willing to confirm the death just yet, but he confirmed a gunbattle ensued.
"Our members were involved in a gun fight. Two men died," he told Rappler, adding they retrieved an M16.
The bodies have been brought back for identification.
Sufahriadi did say however that some characteristics fit that of Santoso's.
"We do not know the identities. Our members said one had a mole on the cheek. Santoso has a mole," he said.
Earlier, former police chief, Gen. Badrodin Haiti said the distance between the members of the task force group and that of Santoso's was only a few kilometers, but forests are dense in Poso where the fight took place.
If Santoso was indeed one of the casualties, his death would be a success for the country's counterterrorism efforts as police and military have tried for many years to find him.
The threat posed by ISIS in Southeast Asia is comparatively small, but real, and it has the potential to become larger if not addressed properly. It is clear that ISIS reinvigorated existing terror networks in the region.
In the region, the center is Indonesia, the world’s 3rd largest democracy with more than 250 million people, the lynchpin of Southeast Asia. It also has the world’s largest Moslem population and has suffered the deadliest terrorist attacks in the region since the Bali bombings in 2002.
They were carried out by Jemaah Islamiyah and its offshoot groups, homegrown gunnies with funding, training and inspiration from al-Qaeda. Its latest incarnation is ISIS.
Since January, two bombings have taken place in Indonesia, at least one of which has been claimed by ISIS.