Fundamentalist Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was sentenced to 30 months jail by Indonesian judges for allegedly giving help and approval to Amrozi for the October 2002 Bali bombings. He was recently released from prison.
Indonesian media said Monday that investigators have identified one of the Jakarta hotel suicide bombers and were taking DNA samples from his family, in reports police refused to confirm. Local media said the man was a former student at an Islamic boarding school linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, which is being blamed for the twin blasts at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels Friday. Two bombers killed seven people including three Australians, a New Zealander and an... Read Full Story
Indonesian police confirmed regional terror outfit Jemaah Islamiyah as the culprits behind twin suicide blasts at Jakarta hotels, and said one of the bombers had been identified. Jemaah Islamiyah, which draws inspiration from Al-Qaeda, has carried out dozens of bombings in Indonesia in the past decade including 2002 attacks in Bali that left more than 200 dead, mostly foreign tourists. "We confirm that the attackers are from Jemaah Islamiyah because there are similarities in the bombs used... Read Full Story
Twin hotel bombings Friday appear to show the resilience of al-Qaida-linked militants in Indonesia despite a crackdown that many assumed had left them seriously weakened. The blasts in the heart of the capital were the first in Indonesia in four years. They came 10 days after the re-election of a U.S.-friendly president in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation. The vote furthered the country's reputation as a beacon of secular democracy in the Islamic world. Suspicion has already... Read Full Story
Indonesian police on Sunday confirmed that regional terror outfit Jemaah Islamiyah were behind the twin suicide blasts at Jakarta hotels, and said one of the bombers had been identified. Jemaah Islamiyah, which draws inspiration from Al-Qaeda, has carried out dozens of bombings in Indonesia in the past decade including 2002 attacks in Bali that left more than 200 dead, mostly foreign tourists. Police said an unexploded bomb left in a guestroom of the JW Marriott, which was attacked along... Read Full Story
Indonesian police Monday were trying to rebuild the face on a severed head found at the scene of deadly hotel blasts in Jakarta in an attempt to identify one of two suspected suicide bombers. The grisly forensic work could provide a key breakthrough in the investigation into Friday's twin suicide attacks on the luxury JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, which killed up to nine people including two militants. One of the bombers apparently targeted a regular weekly breakfast gathering of... Read Full Story
An Australian think tank predicted that Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah might launch new attacks just a day before Friday's deadly hotel bombings in Indonesia. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute said in a paper released Thursday that tensions in the group's leadership and the release of former members from prison "raise the possibility that splinter factions might now seek to re-energize the movement through violent attacks." It said, however, that the possibility... Read Full Story
Deadly bombings in Indonesia's capital have rattled tourism operators on the holiday island of Bali, which is still recovering from bloody terror attacks from seven years ago. The bombings that killed at least nine people at the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in Jakarta on Friday carry strong echoes in Bali, where over 200 people, mostly foreign tourists, were killed in 2002 and 2005 attacks. Those bombings by the radical Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) network sent tourism in Bali and Indonesia... Read Full Story
Philippine troops have captured a Muslim explosives expert suspected in several terrorist attacks, including five nearly simultaneous bombings that killed 22 people in Manila in 2000, officials said Thursday. Army troops and police surrounded Anzar Venancio's hide-out at dawn in the predominantly southern Muslim city of Marawi. Venancio surrendered soon after, and he was flown to Manila for investigation, police Superintendent Danilo Bacas said. National police chief Jesus Versoza told... Read Full Story
Muslim Filipino rebels have helped Indonesian terror suspects evade capture by giving them refuge and access to weapons and funds in the southern Philippines, a government report says. The information was gleaned from a recently arrested rebel who told government interrogators that Indonesian terror suspect Umar Patek has established ties with Filipino militants in the region. A report on his interrogation was seen by The Associated Press on Monday. Omar Venancio told interrogators that... Read Full Story
Troops surrounding Islamic militants in the southern Philippines are preparing to storm the area to rescue three abducted aid workers, President Gloria Arroyo's spokesman said on Monday. The military and the presidential office are waiting for the go-ahead from a local crisis team trying to negotiate for the freedom of the three hostages from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), spokesman Cerge Remonde said. "The military is ready to move in any time depending on the... Read Full Story
