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| Southeast Asia | |
| Southeast Asia Braces for More Terror as Ramadan Looms | |
| 2005-10-04 | |
| (CNSNews.com) - Indonesian police, helped by Australian experts, continued investigations Tuesday into the weekend bombings in Bali, amid new warnings of terror in Southeast Asia as the Muslim world enters the month of Ramadan. Canberra warned in a new travel advisory of the possibility of further bombings on the Indonesian resort island, which has long been a popular destination for Australians and other Westerners. Indonesian raised its security level to "top alert" and other regional governments, including Thailand and the Philippines, also said they were beefing up security. Both Thailand and the Philippines have been battling Islamist insurgencies in their respective southern regions. In the Philippines, national security advisor Norberto Gonzales warned that terrorists might launch attacks in Manila over Ramadan. Ramadan, the Muslim fast-month, begins on Tuesday in the Arab world and on Wednesday further east. The month is for most Muslims a time of introspection and purification - while for extremists traditionally a time to intensify violence and jihad. At least 22 people were killed in Saturday evening's coordinated suicide bombings, and more than 100, including six Americans, were injured. The dead include 14 Indonesians, four Australians and a Japanese. Three crowded restaurants in two popular areas were targeted in the bombings, which police said were carried out by three men in their early 20s with bombs strapped to their bodies. Police confirmed Tuesday they had detained two people for questioning in connection with the attack. They also provided Indonesian media with graphic photographs of the severed but largely intact heads of three bombers, in a bid to identify them. National police spokesman Soenarko Danu Ardanto said identifying the men was crucial to locating those behind the triple bombing. Because of the bombers' modus operandi, police suspect Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the al-Qaeda-linked Islamist network behind previous attacks in Indonesia including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people. Two leading JI figures, Malaysians Azahari Husin and Noordin Top, are thought to have masterminded the attacks and remain at large. The Jakarta Post said in a hard-hitting editorial Tuesday that senior police officials should make capturing the two Malaysian terrorists their main priority, and that their jobs should be on the line. "Someone should be held accountable for this latest intelligence lapse and the continuing failure to arrest the two most wanted men in the country. If [they] are not up to their jobs, they should be replaced," it said of the country's police chief and intelligence agency head. 'It will be chaos' Debate continued about the choice of target and reasons for the attack. Some terrorists convicted for their part in the 2002 bombings voiced disgust during their later court appearances about Western behavior and dress on Bali - a mostly Hindu island and the only part of the world's largest Muslim country to attract Western tourists in large numbers. Whether that provided a reason for the hatred, or merely the convenience of a target with a greater likelihood of killing Westerners than Muslims, remains the subject of speculation. "If the idea is to attack kafirs [unbelievers] as a way of avenging the deaths of Muslims around the world, then Bali has a higher percentage of foreigners than other parts of Indonesia," regional analyst Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group was quoted as saying. Australian Prime Minister John Howard argued this week that the terrorists were targeting Indonesia's moderate Muslim leader, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Terrorism expert Zachary Abuza noted that, just days before the 2002 attack in Bali, Osama bin Laden issued a statement warning "we will target the nodes of your economy." "By targeting Bali they first are striking the economy, and hence the stability of the apostate regime [in Jakarta]," said Abuza, an expert on JI and Southeast Asian terrorism. Although JI's main aim, according to researchers, is the establishment of an Islamic caliphate encompassing much of Southeast Asia, some Indonesian radicals also see a larger agenda. Abu Bakar Bashir, a cleric believed to be JI's spiritual inspiration, was recently interviewed by terrorism analyst Scot Atran in jail, where the Indonesian is serving a prison term for conspiring in the 2002 Bali attacks. In the interview, which has been published by the Jamestown Foundation, Bashir spoke of the global conflict continuing until Westerners were destroyed or bowed to Islam. "If they refuse to be under Islam, it will be chaos. Full stop," he said. "If they want to have peace, they have to accept to be governed by Islam."
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #4 Sunni Booms, Sunni Booms! It's Ramadan such a pity. Hear 'em scream let 'em dream, Soon it will be Shias' Day. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-10-04 19:29 |
| #3 How about we just kill you first? That would be optimal... |
| Posted by: WITT 2005-10-04 19:27 |
| #2 "Peace on earth good will towards...." Oh, wait! |
| Posted by: GK 2005-10-04 11:46 |
| #1 of course, nothing says Religion of Peace™ more than dead innocents |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-10-04 10:44 |