KL yet to arrest four JI suspects

KL yet to arrest four JI suspects

Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia has rounded up all but four of its most wanted terror
suspects and their capture will effectively wipe out the Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI) leadership in the country, a top security official
said on Wednesday.

Stung by reports that two Malaysians played major roles in
bomb attacks in Indonesia, Kuala Lumpur is fighting a growing
perception that the top ranks of the al-Qaeda-linked JI are full
of Malaysians.

Indonesian police on Tuesday accused Malaysians Azahari Husin
and Noordin Muhammad Top of involvement at a senior level in last
year's Bali blast which killed 202 people and this month's attack
on the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, which killed 12.

Azahari, a former university professor, was said to be the
bomb-maker while Noordin was allegedly the overall "controller"
of the Jakarta bombing.

A senior Malaysian security official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told AFP the two men were among the last four on a
most-wanted list of nine issued last year.

He named the other two as Zulkiifli Marzuki, describing him as
a member of the Malaysian JI "think-tank", and Zulkifli Hir.

The five who have been captured are held either in Malaysia or
Indonesia, he said.

More than 70 Islamic militants, many of them allegedly JI
members, are already in detention in Malaysia and the
intelligence official said the capture of the last four would
wipe out the group's leadership structure.

He noted that Malaysia itself had circulated its most-wanted
list to security forces of other countries in the region long
before the Bali blast in October last year.

The opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP), however, called
Wednesday for the government to present parliament with a full
accounting of the Malaysian connection to JI.

Party leader Lim Kit Siang said in a statement that Malaysians
were facing increasing suspicion and harassment when they
traveled to Western countries because of the perception of a
terrorist link.

He noted that Azahari "is widely named" as a possible
successor to JI operations chief Hambali, who was arrested in
Thailand last week.

Lim Kit Siang also noted that it was reportedly the arrest in
Thailand of a Malaysian, known by the alias Li-Li, which led to
the capture of Indonesian national Hambali.

Li-Li and Malaysian Zubair Mohamad, who was captured in
Bangkok in June, are now believed to be in U.S. custody at a
secret location along with Hambali.

The security official, however, dismissed the suggestion that
Azahari or any other Malaysian might take over the operational
leadership of JI.

The chief would always be an Indonesian and most likely a
graduate of the Ngruki Muslim boarding school on the outskirts of
Solo, where several terror suspects have studied, he said.

The school is headed by Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the alleged
spiritual leader of JI who is on trial in Jakarta for treason.

"It all goes back to Indonesia," the official said, noting
that the Malaysians involved were recruited by Hambali and
Ba'asyir when the two Indonesians lived in exile in Malaysia
during the rule of former Indonesian dictator Soeharto.

Meanwhile, Malaysia has formed a special police force to
counter security threats from JI and militant groups operating in
the nearby southern Philippines, a senior official said on
Wednesday.

Ali Hanafiah, the brigade commander for eastern Sabah state on
the island of Borneo, said the recent capture of suspected
regional terror leader Hambali and militant Muslim groups
operating in the neighboring southern Philippines prompted the
creation of the unit, codenamed the "Tiger Platoon."

"The Tiger platoon will bolster our capacity to fight JI and
any other militants," he told AFP.

The force has already been strategically deployed in parts of
Sabah, particularly in areas close to the southern Philippines,
Ali told AFP.

Officers of the unit, all experts in sniper fire and close
combat, have also been trained in urban-guerrilla warfare and
hostage rescue, he said.