Police warn of terror attacks despite JI arrests
Police warn of terror attacks despite JI arrests
Agencies, Jakarta
A police spokesman warned the public on Thursday to stay alert
against future terror attacks despite a major haul this week of
Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) suspects and the seizure of arms and
explosives.
"Threats of new attacks always exist. We have to remain
vigilant," said National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri
Lubis.
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar has said the seizures
indicated that the Southeast Asian terror network Jamaah
Islamiyah was planning fresh terrorist attacks before next year's
general elections.
JI is blamed for the bombing of two Bali night spots last
October which killed 202 people, as well as dozens of other
deadly attacks in recent years.
A bomb exploded early on Thursday near the United Nations
building in Central Jakarta but no one was hurt and the damage
was minimal. Da'i said it was designed to create fear among the
public but he did not know who was responsible.
Police announced on Wednesday the arrest of 18 suspected JI
members, including three Bali suspects who will be flown to the
resort island for questioning.
"We were looking for Bali bombing suspects and we found them.
It turned out that they confessed to being members of JI and know
each other," Lubis told AFP.
A fourth suspect is also believed to have taken part in the
Bali plot but his name could not be revealed, Zainuri said.
JI's alleged "emir" or leader, Muslim cleric Abu Bakar
Ba'asyir, went on trial Wednesday for treason and some of the
other bombings in recent years. Among the 18 detainees is Abu
Rusdan, who according to police replaced Ba'asyir as leader after
the old cleric was arrested last October.
Da'i said reports of Rusdan's status came from detained JI
members.
"Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is facing a legal process. They might have
(decided to) appoint an interim leader, maybe without a formal
letter of appointment," he said.
The timing of the arrests were probably a deliberate effort to
bolster the case against Ba'asyir, said Sidney Jones of the
International Crisis Group of political analysts.
"That may well have been a deliberate effort to say the JI
indeed exists as an organization and that we have additional
people that may be able to provide evidence on Ba'asyir," she
told AFP.
But Ba'asyir denied on Thursday the presence of JI, which has
been placed on the U.N. terrorist blacklist. He also dismissed
allegations that he knew all the suspects arrested, including
Nasser Abas who reportedly he appointed the sub-regional leader
overseeing Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Sabah and the Philippines.
According to Hasyim Abdullah, treasurer of Ba'asyir's
Indonesian Mujahiddin Council (MMI) who has frequently visited
the Muslim cleric during his detention at the National Police
headquarters, Ba'asyir also said that he recognized several of
the 18 JI members recently arrested by police.
"Pak Ustadz said that he never promoted Abas as a JI sub-
regional leader. Meanwhile, Pak Ustadz also said that JI has
never existed," Hasyim told reporters, referring to Ba'asyir with
a respectful title, after visiting him at his detention.
Abas is said to be a brother-in-law of Mukhlas, who is a key
suspect in the Bali bombing and one of the 30 people already
detained on the island.
Police said Abas was also involved in the Atrium mall bombing
in Central Jakarta in August 2001.