Terrorist leaders still at large in Indonesia: Lee

Terrorist leaders still at large in Indonesia: Lee

Agencies, Singapore

Singapore remains at risk from a terrorist attack because leaders
of regional extremist cells are still at large in Indonesia,
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew said in remarks published on Monday.

The Straits Times reported that the former prime minister,
speaking on Sunday at a community gathering, likened terrorist
groups to multinational corporations with a presence in several
countries.

He said despite Singapore's arrest of 13 suspects with alleged
links to the al-Qaeda network led by the world's most wanted man
Osama bin Laden, it was still in danger because the terrorist
brains remained free.

Singapore arrested 13 suspected members of a Southeast Asian
Muslim group, Jemaah Islamiyah, in December, but the group is
still a serious threat to the region, the Straits Times newspaper
reported quoting Lee.

Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said on Sunday that the 13 men
arrested in Singapore on terrorist charges had planned to use a
quantity of explosive some 20 times more powerful than that used
to destroy the Federal Building in Oklahoma.

The men planned to use 21 tons of ammonium nitrate in attacks
around Singapore in either December last year or in January, the
local Straits Times Television network quoted Goh as saying.

"And to give you an idea of what 21 tons of ammonium nitrate
could do, you've got to remember in 1995 in Oklahoma City, the
Federal Building, which was a nine-story building, was brought to
the ground with just one ton of ammonium nitrate," Goh said in an
address to constituents.

Singapore officials have linked Jemaah Islamiyah to Osama bin
Laden and his al-Qaeda organization, and said members planned to
bomb Western embassies, U.S. Navy ships and other targets in
Singapore.

Lee likened the group to a multinational corporation, saying
that while some employees were disabled, the bosses remain at
large in neighboring Indonesia.

They need foot soldiers to do the legwork in Singapore, such
as taking videos and buying explosives, but masterminds make the
final decision on when to come in, assemble bombs, go to the
targets and set off the explosives, Lee said.

"You buy materials in one place and prepare them, and I make
arrangements from another place," Lee reportedly said in
describing how the network operates.

Regional security officials believe suspected terrorist cells
busted in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines are directed by
leaders in neighboring Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim
nation.

Authorities in Malaysia have identified three Indonesian
preachers as responsible for religious and militant
indoctrination of a Malaysian group accused of planning to topple
the government violently.

Malaysia has detained 23 suspected Islamic militants,
including four Indonesians and three Singaporeans.

Philippine police have arrested an Indonesian, Fathur Rohman
al-Ghozi, on suspicion of being the explosives expert for the
Jemaah Islamiyah group, said to be planning a bombing campaign
against U.S. targets in Singapore.

The United States, which is helping the Philippines in its
fight against extremists, has urged Indonesia to take firmer
action against suspected terrorists.

Dozens of suspected militants arrested recently in Malaysia
and Singapore are thought to have ties to an Indonesia-based
Muslim cleric, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir. Abu is the alleged leader of
Jemaah Islamiyah, an extremist organization with cells in
Malaysia, Singapore and the southern Philippines.