Police chasing six trained terrorist
Police chasing six trained terrorist
suspects
Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Police have renewed a warning here that terrorist
attacks are a real and present danger in the would's largest
Muslim country, saying a number of trained operatives are still
at large.
National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Makbul
Padmanegara said on Sunday at least six graduates of terrorist
training camps in Afghanistan and Moro in southern Philippines
were hiding across Indonesia.
He did not identify all the suspects, nor the location of
their suspected hideouts.
The police are hunting them down as their presence posed a
serious threat to the country in the future, Makbul told a
discussion on Islamic boarding schools (pesantren), jihad and
terrorism at the Al-Azhar mosque in South Jakarta.
Makbul said these suspicions were strengthened by the recent
finding by police of at least 47 homemade bombs during November's
successful raid that killed Malaysian master bombmaker Azahari
bin Husin in Malang, East Java.
The bombs were ready for use, the police said.
"It means that there are people who are prepared to carry out
more attacks in our country," Makbul said.
Azahari was blamed for masterminding a string of bombings in
Indonesia in the last three years, including the 2002 attack that
killed 202 people in Bali.
His Malaysian accomplice Noordin M. Top remains at large and
is believed to have plans to launch revenge attacks.
The police have also said they have found evidence that
Noordin has recruited new followers to carry out more attacks.
Makbul said the police were chasing the wanted terrorist
suspects through "proper and smart" measures.
He insisted that the police would not fingerprint pesantren
students as part of measures to fight terrorism, a move that drew
strong criticism from both moderate and hard-line Muslim leaders.
"There is no such plan to monitor pesantren by taking their
students' fingerprints. We will combat terrorism with knowledge
and technology," he said without elaborating further.
Meanwhile, Forum for Muslims (FUI) leader Mashadi said many
Islamic organizations under the Terrorist Prevention Team
comprising religious leaders, would promote the correct
interpretation of Koranic verses on jihad in order to prevent the
concept from being misused by militants.
"We will publish a book on jihad and terrorism and then
promote it to ulema and santri (pesantren students) across the
country," he told The Jakarta Post.
Mashadi said the book would partly explain the definition of
terrorism, the real meaning of jihad, and those who are and are
not allowed to be killed in a holy war.
"The book will also clarify sharia-based qisash (punishment)
for a Muslim who kills innocent people. Under the Koran, such an
act is grave sin, but the question is whether he or she will have
to face qisash on earth as well as in the hereafter," he added.