Manhunt continues for other JI members<\/p>\n
Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi<\/p>\n
A senior police officer said on Saturday that police were still
\nhunting for suspected members of the regional terrorist group
\nJamaah Islamiyah (JI).<\/p>\n
Chief Detective Police Comr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng said the
\nmanhunt was still going on for four JI members who formed part of
\na group recently nabbed in Jakarta and Semarang, Central Java.<\/p>\n
\"For now, the hunt is still underway for four more members of
\nthe group. But apart from the four, we can't tell how many more
\nthere may be, as we have yet to find out the total number of JI
\npeople,\" he told reporters in Makassar, South Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
Mappaseng also declined to give more information on a report
\nearlier that the group had begun an operation targeting five
\nnational political leaders.<\/p>\n
\"It is not appropriate for me to disclose the information now,
\nbut I can assure you that President Megawati Soekarnoputri is not
\none of their targets,\" he said, adding the group would also
\ntarget public places.<\/p>\n
The alleged leader of JI, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is currently
\nstanding trial in Jakarta on several charges including an alleged
\nplot to assassinate Megawati when she was vice president.<\/p>\n
The plot to target national leaders was apparently gleaned
\nfrom JI members arrested earlier in the week. Police also seized
\nexplosives and firearms that were likely going to be used to
\nsupport the plan, Mappaseng said.<\/p>\n
On Friday, police announced they had arrested nine suspected
\nmembers of JI, the regional terrorist organization blamed for
\nlast year's Bali bombings. One of the suspects, identified as
\nIkhwanuddin, alias Asim, 28, committed suicide during
\ninterrogation at a police post in East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday afternoon police arrested two other suspects in
\nBekasi, West Java. One of them, Pranata Yuda, alias Mustofa
\nreportedly admitted that he was a former head of JI's Mantiqi
\n(regional commander) and is currently the head of a working
\ncommittee at the JI headquarters in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
In Semarang, Central Java, police recovered over 1,000 bomb
\ndetonators, 900 kilograms of potassium chlorate, 160 kilograms of
\nTNT, 65 PETN detonators (a high-explosive substance), 11
\nshoulder-launched rockets, more than 20,000 rounds of ammunition,
\ntwo M-16 assault rifles, timers, maps and documents.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the arrest, Mappaseng said the Mustofa group was
\nnot involved in the deadly Bali blast or last December's bombing
\nin Makassar. It was also not implicated in the explosions in
\nPoso, Central Sulawesi, last Thursday.<\/p>\n
However, he asserted that the group had an indirect link with
\nthe alleged perpetrators of the Bali blast. \"They share a common
\nvision of waging a war to defend Islam,\" Mappaseng said.<\/p>\n
He said that the entire JI network in Indonesia only began to
\nbe unraveled after the police embarked on an all-out
\ninvestigation with international help in the wake of the Bali
\nbombings.<\/p>\n
Thus far, the police have caught more than 100 members of JI,
\n50 of whom were allegedly linked in some way to the Bali bombings
\nthat claimed over 200 lives.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/manhunt-continues-for-other-ji-members-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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