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| Southeast Asia |
| Report says JI ‘building and consolidating’ in Indonesia |
| 2007-05-25 |
| The apparent recent success of Indonesian authorities in stemming violent attacks by the Indonesian-based, Islamist terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (“Islamic Community”) following arrests in March has some experts suggesting the Al-Qaeda-inspired group has been damaged beyond repair. Key arrests of seven alleged JI members in raids in Central and East Java in March by Indonesian counter-terrorism authorities which also uncovered an enormous cache of explosives and weaponry and JI documents revealing an organizational split in the group, has analysts talking about the beginning of the end for Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). However a key report delivered earlier this month by independent conflict resolution think tank the International Crisis Group (ICG) argues the terror group, though damaged by the arrests, may be in a “building and consolidation phase” and are far from finished as a potent force. Press reports of bomb blasts in the southern Philippines island of Mindanao blamed on JI operatives since the release of the report would seem to back up the ICG’s view. “JI is in a building and consolidation phase which for the most part means that it is unlikely to be interested in large, expensive operations that could further weaken its support base,” says the ICG’s South East Asia expert Sidney Jones in the ICG report released on May 3, 2007. The report said the documents captured during the March police raids showed a serious split in the organization between those who favour small-scale cheap attacks against individual targets which would reduce Muslim fatalities and those, like suspected Bali bomber Noordin Mohammed Top, who prefer larger-scale,more dramatic amd more expensive acts of violence against Western targets. Top has split from the mainstream Jemaah Islamiyah organization though is believed to retain some ties with the group. |
| Posted by:ryuge |