| Submit your comments on this article |
| Down Under |
| JI decimated, says Evans |
| 2005-09-27 |
| Former Labor foreign minister Gareth Evans says he believes the influence of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah in South-East Asia has been smashed. Mr Evans, who now head the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, says the terrorist threat within Australia should be viewed as moderate rather than extreme. In a speech delivered in Sydney last night, Mr Evans said the International Crisis Group had no information suggesting that JI had sleeper cells in Australia. He said there was no question that Australia's support for the United States and the war in Iraq had raised the nation's profile in the Salafi Jihadi world. But Mr Evans said his organisation was of the view that JI was no longer a serious threat to Australia's interests. "The division of Jemaah Islamiah that was operating in Australia in a tentative sort of a way has clearly been effectively smashed by the Australian authorities," he said. "Jemaah Islamiah itself has been significantly decimated in terms of its effective operation in Indonesia." Speaking on the day state and territory leaders agreed with the Commonwealth on a new range of anti-terrorist measures, Mr Evans said the terrorist risk in Australia was "moderate". "It's obviously appropriate that Australia respond with defensive measures and effective policing activity as it has but we should not go overboard," he said. "The judgment I make from our work in the region, Indonesia in particular, for us [the risk] is real but it's basically moderate, not extreme." However, Rohan Gunaratna, an expert on terrorism in South-East Asia, said JI remained a "credible threat" in the region. "It is the most active terrorist group in South-East Asia today," Dr Gunaratna said. "I think that Australian and Indonesian police have done a very good job in fighting JI but still JI key operatives are free and they are planning and preparing attacks." Dr Gunaratna said he believed JI would mount an attack in the coming months. "JI poses a threat to Australia because JI has intention of attacking Australian interests and if possible JI would like to attack inside Australia," he said. "JI had a very significant network in Australia that was dismantled after the Bali attack, we must not forget that." more at link |
| Posted by:Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World |
| #1 "Jemaah Islamiah itself has been significantly decimated" So, one in ten are dead? /pedant :-D |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-09-27 22:14 |