Unknown Networks Discovered
JEMAAH Islamiah remains an extraordinarily resilient and lethal terrorist organisation despite a string of recent arrests and the dismantling of a key JI cell in East Java by Indonesian and Australian police.
Counter-terrorism experts agree there is a need to reassess thinking about JI's leadership and direction in the wake of last month's arrest of eight suspects on Java and the seizure of nearly 800kg of explosives.
"I think that you have to assume that the organisation may have shrunk less than we thought in the past couple of years," Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group and a pre-eminent Western expert on JI told The Weekend Australian.
Ms Jones said the arrests in central and east Java last month uncovered evidence of previously unknown networks on Java linked to JI, which is responsible for a string of terrorist attacks, including the Bali bombings.
Greg Fealy, of the ANU, said there was a need to reconsider previous analysis about JI in the light of "worrying" fresh intelligence about the group uncovered in last month's police swoops, which recovered TNT, improvised bombs, high-powered weapons and ammunition.
A critical issue was whether JI had been moving from bombing attacks as previously assumed.
"It has restructured and it would now appear there are people actively planning terrorist attacks," Dr Fealy said.
"It has restructured and it would now appear there are people actively planning terrorist attacks," Dr Fealy said.
Australian authorities say the east Java cell disrupted by last month's joint Indonesian National Police-Australian Federal Police operation is part of awider network led by Afghanistan-trained Abu Dujana. He is believed to be JI's key military leader in Java and is known to have protected master bomb-maker Noordin Mohammed Top.
But the most troubling revelation flowing from last month's Indonesian police-AFP raids is that authorities keep uncovering previously unknown networks.
posted by 10 men at 5:08 PM
3 Comments:
Was it the hydra that you cut off one head and two more sprout up in its place? That's what that reminds me of.
True; the West isn't doing itself any favours by limiting the enemy to a few hundred (+ -) groups. It's just the political correct thing to do.
This very well could be the West's downfall, if it's not careful.
All it will take is a change of government (or a coup) in countries such as Indonesia and Pakistan and the West will be deep in it.
We simply don't have the resources to do what's needed when that happens.
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