JI suspects in 'suicide squad': Police
Abdul Khalik and Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Surabaya
The National Police said on Sunday that three terror suspects they had captured last month in Solo and Surabaya were suicide squad members of the regional Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terror network.
JI is a UN-listed terrorist organization blamed for the Oct. 12, 2002, Bali bombings, which killed at least 202 people, and the Aug. 5, 2003, attack on the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, which claimed 12 lives.
National Police antiterror chief Brig. Gen. Pranowo said two of three terror suspects captured in Surakarta, Central Java, and one of two captured in Surabaya, East Java, over the last two months were JI members specifically trained to carry out suicide attacks across Indonesia.
"Yes, several people we arrested in Solo (Surakarta) and Surabaya are JI suicide squad members, who were awaiting orders from their leaders to launch attacks," he told The Jakarta Post.
Pranowo declined to release their names, saying it would hamper police efforts to hunt down their accomplices.
He said police had also captured five other suspects in Sukoharjo, Surakarta, who were charged for the Bali blasts and the Marriott attack.
The five were not from the JI suicide squad, but ensuing investigations helped the police capture other terror suspects, he added.
"We have transferred them to Jakarta from Bali because we can no longer charge them with involvement in the Bali bombings following the Constitutional Court's recent ruling," he said, referring to the annulment of a law that allowed the retroactive application of the Antiterror Law.
After the Sukoharjo arrests, police nabbed Lutfi Haedaroh, 25, and Air Setyawan, 23, in Surakarta on July 20 and July 26, respectively.
Subsequently, the police also arrested last month a man identified as Ismail in Surabaya, while on Aug. 4, cleric Saifuddin Umar, alias Abu Fida, was also captured also in that city.
Pranowo said Lutfi, Air and Ismail were allegedly new JI recruits who had been readied for several attacks in Semarang, Surabaya and Jakarta. He said Saifuddin was not a suicide squad member, despite his alleged links with the terror group.
Meanwhile, East Java Police claimed that Saifuddin had hidden the two Malaysian fugitives, Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohammad Top, for two months this year. The two Malaysians have been on the wanted list for allegedly masterminding the Bali and Marriott attacks.
Saifuddin had also recruited several new JI members, including Ismail and another fugitive suspect, Candra, East Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Endro Wardoyo said on Sunday.
"Based on information from Sunarto bin Kartodiharjo, alias Adung, one of the JI members arrested in Sukoharjo, we confirm that Saifuddin was hiding Azahari and Noordin," he said.
According to Endro, Adung, head of JI Central Java, placed the two Malaysian fugitives in Saifuddin's care for security, and the two had stayed in Saifuddin's house in Sidotopo Lor, Surabaya, since February.
In March, Endro said, the Malaysian suspects moved to a rented house in Rungkut, also in Surabaya, ahead of the April 5 legislative election.
During this period, Azahari, Noordin and Saifuddin recruited Candra, Ismail, Lutfi and Air, he added.
Saifuddin was recently released after suffering severe depression under detention.
The police also arrested another suspected JI member, Sonhadi, who confirmed that Azahari, Noordin and Saifuddin had recruited and trained several graduates from Ma'had Aly Islamic School in Ngruki, Surakarta, as suicide squad members.
Pranowo said JI's recruitment of new members in the past one year showed the terror group remained a real and present danger.