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| Southeast Asia |
| JI fails to regroup |
| 2004-07-24 |
| The Jemaah Islamiyah terror group has tried to organize new terror attacks in Southeast Asia in the last year, but failed because it didn't have enough money, support from other militant groups, or "thinkers and planners among its ranks," officials said. The al-Qaeda-linked organization was gutted by the arrest of scores of militants after Sept. 11, 2001 — including Hambali, the group's alleged operations chief, a Malaysian government official told The Associated Press on Friday. Remnants of Jemaah Islamiyah have made several unsuccessful attempts to regroup in Indonesia so they could launch more strikes, he said on condition of anonymity. One of their biggest problems was they "could not agree on a leader to take over from Hambali," he said. The alleged high-ranking al-Qaeda leader and the brains behind Jemaah Islamiyah was Southeast Asia's most-wanted fugitive before his August 2003 arrest by Thai police, who turned him over to U.S. custody. In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. on Saturday, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the Jemaah Islamiyah threat in Malaysia has been minimized. "I do not say that they are destroyed, but if there is any more, we are able to contain them," Abdullah said. A Malaysian security official agreed that the network had been crippled by arrests in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia in the last two years, but said now is not the time to be complacent. "The threat has subsided but there is still a small group out there which could pose problems if authorities in the region let down their guard," the official said on condition of anonymity. The first government official said authorities in Southeast Asia have in the past year gained the upper hand in cutting off Jemaah Islamiyah's support from militant groups in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That official said the crackdown on Jemaah Islamiyah cells in the region had also left the group without funds to mount attacks. "The threat posed by Jemaah Islamiyah, especially in Indonesia, is still there as several key members are still at large," the official said. "But they are on the run ... it is important that authorities keep up this pressure." Abdullah said that the Indonesian authorities "are working very hard to trace and nab" several Jemaah Islamiyah operatives who were on the run. Two of them are Malaysian explosives experts Azahari Husin and Nordin Mohamad Top. Malaysia's intelligence chief, Yusuf Abdul Rahman, said Indonesian police last month discovered a will written by Nordin for his wife, expressing his intention to be a suicide bomber, The Star daily newspaper reported. The Star cited regional security sources as saying that Nordin was heavily armed and is believed to have strapped his body with explosives. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |