Police uncover terrorist training camp in jungle on Seram Island

Police uncover terrorist training camp in jungle on Seram Island

Chris Brummitt, Associated Press, Jakarta

Antiterror police discovered a recently abandoned jungle training camp where militants taught bomb-making skills to scores of extremists, security officials said on Wednesday, weeks after suicide attackers launched fresh strikes on the tourist island of Bali.

Instructors at the camp in Maluku province - the scene of bloody fighting between Muslims and Christians from 1999 to 2002 - were graduates of terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and the Philippines, said Lt. Col. Leonidas Braksan, chief of Ambon Police.

The isolated camp deep in the jungle had been running for several years and was attended by militants from all over Indonesia, he said, evidence that terrorists have been able to maintain training networks despite a nationwide crackdown.

Police raided the camp on Seram Island earlier this month after receiving information from recently arrested militants, Leonidas said. Officers found several huts there, as well as white flags used as markers for military exercises. Villagers living nearby heard gunfire and occasional explosions from the direction of the camp, he said.

"They were teaching war tactics, including using weapons and making bombs," Leonidas said, citing testimony from captured graduates of the camp. "The place was very isolated and difficult to get to."

There were no indications that camp graduates were among those who planned or carried out the Oct. 1 bombings on three crowded restaurants on Bali island that killed 23 people, including three attackers, he said.

Religious fighting on Maluku and nearby Sulawesi Island drew militants from all over Indonesia between 1999 and 2002, many of whom went on to take part in terror attacks elsewhere in the country.

Foreign terrorists looking for another venue after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan traveled to the region and funded and taught at other camps, security officials say.

Maj. Gen. Ansjaad Mbai, head of the antiterror desk at the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, said the region continues to be an important recruiting ground for Indonesian militant groups.

"They can use their experience straight away," he said, noting that militants have in recent years continued to launch sporadic attacks on Christians and security forces in Maluku and Sulawesi. "Something like on-the-job training."

Ansjaad said a militant wanted in connection with the slaying of five paramilitary police officers in Maluku in May was suspected of running the jungle camp in Seram.

He said that it was likely there were other camps in the region, although he stressed they may not be permanent settlements.

"Don't imagine they are well equipped or made of concrete," he said. "All they need is a remote area that people rarely visit."