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| Southeast Asia |
| Top planned to hit Java power plant |
| 2006-04-18 |
| THE al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiah terror group planned to bomb a big power plant in the east of Java island last year. According to an Indonesian security source, JI leader Noordin Mohamed Top plotted to blow up the Paiton coal-fired thermal power plant about 150km southeast of Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city. Japanese, British and US companies have invested in the plant. The source said JI was also investigating whether citizens of the US and its allies were working at the plant. It is the first report of a terrorist attack having been planned by JI against Japanese-related facilities. The plot is believed to have been aimed at throwing the region into confusion by causing a large-scale blackout on Java. Noordin ordered JI members to stake out the plant, the source said. Two JI members who were arrested on suspicion of harbouring Noordin and are on trial told local prosecutors they were ordered to check whether foreign citizens, including Americans, worked at the plant. Top masterminded the suicide bombings on Bali last October which killed 20 people. He is believed to have picked the power plant as a target because it is capitalised and operated by foreign companies. But the attack was eventually aborted because JI could not make bombs powerful enough to disable the plant, according to the source. The security authorities found that Noordin also had his subordinates check whether Japanese and US consulates-general were located exactly where they were shown on a map JI had. A security official warned that Japanese citizens should be aware of the dangers in the area. The planned attack on the plant shows that JI is targeting Japanese companies' interests. The source said Noordin was expanding terrorism targets to non-Muslims in general. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 |
| Posted by: DMFD 2006-04-18 19:06 |
| #1 A Java power plant? Shouldn't they be implementing these in C++ or something? (We now return you to our regular, non-geeky commentary) |
| Posted by: SteveS 2006-04-18 17:53 |