Bali shows JI 'can still strike, despite arrests'

Bali shows JI 'can still strike, despite arrests'

Roberto Coloma, Agence France-Presse/Singapore

The suicide bombings that ripped through the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Saturday prove that the regional terror network suspected of responsibility can still strike despite a wave of arrests, analysts said.

As recently as last week, the head of the respected think-tank International Crisis Group (ICG) told an audience in Australia that the al-Qaeda-linked group Jamaah Islamiyah was no longer a serious threat in Indonesia or elsewhere after a clampdown by authorities.

"The JI regional division that covered Australia has been effectively smashed by Indonesian police and intelligence operations, well supported by Australian agencies," the head of the ICG, former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans, said.

"JI itself no longer poses a serious threat in Indonesia or elsewhere," he added.

That was, of course, before the three apparent suicide bombers blew themselves up in packed restaurants on the Indonesian holiday island. They killed at least 26 people, three of them Australians, and wounded scores.

And JI was the group immediately blamed.

"The only group that has the intention and capability to mount a coordinated and simultaneous attack against a Western target in Indonesia is Jamaah Islamiyah," Rohan Gunaratna, head of terrorism research at Singapore's Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, told AFP hours after the attack.

The blasts bear all the hallmarks of a JI operation, said Ansyaad Mbai, head of the anti-terrorism desk at Indonesia's security ministry,

Jamaah Islamiyah, whose name means "Islamic community", has staged more than 50 bombings or attempted bombings in Indonesia since April 1999.

These included bombings on Christmas Eve 2000 around Indonesia of 38 churches or priests which killed 19 people, the first Bali suicide blasts of October 2002 which killed 202 people, a suicide attack on Jakarta's Marriott hotel in August 2003 which killed 12 and another suicide blast outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta in September 2004 in which 12 people died.

It is also suspected of involvement in bombings in the Philippines, where its followers have attended training camps, and of bomb plots in Thailand and Singapore.

Dozens of alleged members have been rounded up in the region. Indonesian courts have tried, convicted and sentenced some 40-50 people for the Bali, Marriott and Australian embassy blasts, with five receiving death sentences. More people have been tried for the blasts in Indonesia than in the United States after Sept. 11.

But there are also gaps in the clampdown.

Some of JI's most dangerous militants and bombmakers are still on the run -- notably Malaysians Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohammad Top. They are suspected of key roles in the 2002 Bali blasts and the Marriott and embassy strikes.

Two Indonesians named Dulmatin and Umar Patek are also at large.

And while Indonesia is generally seen as having done much to tackle JI, it has still to formally ban the group. The Philippines has not put in place anti-terror legislation.

Further hampering the country's efforts to battle rising militancy is a lack of resources and manpower to effectively monitor the various armed groups passing through the Philippines' vast borders.

French anti-terrorist expert Jean-Louis Bruguiere said recently that financial capitals such as Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney could be attacked by al-Qaeda to undermine investor confidence in the region.

But the worst terrorist attacks over the past three years have taken place in Indonesia and the Philippines, and most of the victims have been locals.

More than 100 people were killed in the Philippines in February 2004 when a ferry was bombed by alleged members of the Abu Sayyaf, another group allegedly linked to al-Qaeda which has also been involved in kidnappings for ransom.