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| Southeast Asia |
| Indonesians find remains of JI training camp in Java |
| 2005-04-27 |
| INDONESIAN police are investigating reports the hard-line Islamist group headed by jailed cleric Abu Bakar Bashir held a secret training camp for Muslim militants at a central Java tourist resort. The military-style training camp took place in a heavily-forested area near the city of Salatiga, central Java police chief inspector General Chaerul Rasyid said. The camp was organised by the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI), or Council of Indonesian Holy Warriors, he said. The group is led by Bashir, who was recently jailed for involvement in the Bali bombings. It was detected by intelligence officers from the Indonesian National Police and involved 24 people, General Rasyid said. "They have already left," General Rasyid said. "We have not identified the goal of the training." Police were investigating claims the camp had intended to teach participants only civil defence drills, General Rasyid said. "But if it was intended for other purposes that could cause unrest among the locals, we will take action," he said. MMI has links to the Jemaah Islamiah terror network blamed for the Bali bombings and the 2003 suicide bomb attack on the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, which together killed 214 people, including 88 Australians. Jemaah Islamiah is also said to be holding secret military training camps on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao, prompting a US diplomat to warn the island is becoming "the new 'Mecca' for terrorism", comparing it to Afghanistan. Ngasim, a ranger from the Kopeng forest where the Java training camp was said to have taken place, said he had seen several bearded men wearing headscarves and carrying sticks. An MMI spokesman, named Wahyudin, denied the organisation had mounted any military training. He told the Jakarta Post newspaper its members were fully occupied helping in tsunami-devastated Aceh's reconstruction. Some reports said the camp had been organised by the conservative Islamic-based Justice and Welfare Party, or PKS, which rose to prominence in last year's Indonesian elections. A PKS supporter in Salatiga, Budi Santoso, told the Republika newspaper some people were doing "marching exercises" in the forest to become party members. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |