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.