[Kabar-indonesia] ST: Indonesian Group Warns Of Suicide Bomb Attacks [4 articles]

[Joyo at aol.com]

4 articles:

- ST: Indonesian group warns of suicide bomb attacks
- Indonesian 'jihadis' vow to attack Israeli targets
- Weekend Australian: Jihadis set to target Australia
- SMH: Revenge plans may have to go on hold


The Straits Times (Singapore)
Saturday, August 5, 2006

Indonesian group warns of suicide bomb attacks

Salim Osman, Indonesia Correspondent

JAKARTA - THE leader of a self-styled radical group
yesterday claimed that hundreds of Muslim militants
from South-east Asia had been despatched on suicide
bombing missions to countries that support Israel.

The militants are to avenge Israel's attacks on
Lebanon and the Palestinian territory of Gaza, said Mr
Suaib Didu, the head of the Jakarta chapter of an
outfit calling itself the Asean Muslim Youth
Secretariat (Amsec).

He said that 217 youths from Malaysia, Indonesia and
the Philippines had 'embarked' on suicide missions and
another 3,000 volunteers from Kalimantan would follow
suit.

The Indonesian volunteers will be 'honoured' today in
Pontianak, in West Kalimantan province, he added.

'We are focusing our attack on Israel's interests
abroad and those countries that support its aggression
in Lebanon and Palestine,' he told The Straits Times
on the telephone from Pontianak. The United States,
Britain and Australia figure on the hit list, he
added.

Indonesian police were sceptical of the claims, but
said they would investigate the matter and contact Mr
Suaib for clarification.

Not much is known about the group, but Mr Suaib said
that it was based in Kuala Lumpur and had members from
all Asean countries. Its Malaysian members are mainly
Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) youths, he claimed.

But PAS Youth chief Salahuddin Ayub said in Kuala
Lumpur: 'I have never heard of him or the group. It
has nothing to do with us.'

Analysts doubted whether Mr Suaib, 40, who is known to
be a Gerakan Pemuda Islam Indonesia (Islamic Youth
Movement) activist, would be able to send any
militants abroad.

He is known to have made 'wild claims' in the past
about sending volunteers to participate in conflicts
overseas.

Security analyst Ken Conboy, who has written two books
on terrorism in Indonesia, said: 'They tried to raise
funds to send jihadis to Afghanistan, but not a single
soul went.'

Indonesia's foreign ministry yesterday cautioned
Muslims against going.

'The government understands what they are feeling...
anger, disappointment and frustration with Israeli
troops acting inhumanly and brutally,' said ministry
spokesman Desra Percaya.

He added that the government did not advise going to
Lebanon, but it could not stop volunteers from going
if they insisted on doing so.

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Indonesian 'jihadis' vow to attack Israeli targets

PONTIANAK, Indonesia, August 5 (AFP) -- More than a
100 Indonesian "jihadis" held a show of force in West
Kalimantan Saturday morning, before being sent abroad
to attack Jewish interests in countries that support
Israel, their leader said.

Wearing black hoods and black shirts, 160 men from the
hardline Asian Muslim Youth Movement (AMYM) stood in
military formation and demonstrated martial arts
skills in a public square just opposite military
headquarters in Pontianak, the capital of West
Kalimantan on the island of Borneo.

"Their aim is protect our friends from Israeli
aggression," AMYM leader Suaib Didu told AFP.

"They will bomb various places, various vital
installations overseas such as in Israel and in any
country that supports the aggression of Israel and the
United States," he added.

However when pressed about how the jihadis would
oppose the might of the Israeli army, Didu admitted
his fighters might have difficulties entering the
Jewish state.

"They will be sent to various cities, and we will see
if they can enter Israel or not," he said.

The volunteers are all former "alumni" from
Afghanistan, the Palestinian territories and the
southern Philippines, claimed Didu, speaking after
several men demonstrated their martial arts skills.

As one man lay on the ground, another black hooded man
chopped a brick on his bare forehead.

About half the men were well-built middle aged men,
while the rest were in their twenties.

Didu denied that the group would be dispatching
suicide bombers, as suggested in a report in The
Australian newspaper Friday.

"We don't want to carry out suicide bombing but jihad
bombing," he said, adding that they didn't want to
target civilians.

"We can't carry out brutal bombings which kill women
and children," said Didu.

The nearly 200 jihadis would travel overland from
Indonesian West Kalimantan into Malaysian Borneo, said
Didu, because many lacked passports and proper travel
documents.

The AMYM claims it has already dispatched 217 suicide
bombers, including 72 Indonesians as well as citizens
of six other Southeast Asian nations, to attack Jewish
targets in countries such as Britain, the United
States and possibly Australia, Didu told the
Australian
newspaper Friday.

Australia's Human Services Minister Joe Hockey said
Friday that the foreign affairs ministry was
investigating the claims.

Police in Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic
nation, said they would look into the group's claims
but were sceptical.

Indonesia has had its share of suicide bombing
attacks. In 2002 attacks on the resort island of Bali
killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

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The Weekend Australian
Saturday, August 5, 2006

Jihadis set to target Australia

Natalie O'Brien, Stephen Fitzpatrick

RAHMAT Hidayat was one of dozens of young Indonesian
men who pledged yesterday to die fighting Israel and
its supporters, including Australia.

The 21-year-old politics student registered in Jakarta
with the Islamic Defender Front (FPI) to join the
jihad.

Mr Hidayat said he wanted to fight Australia because
it always ''supported Israeli movements''.

''Not only am I prepared to carry a gun, but if I have
a bomb attached to my body -- so long as I can damage
Israel -- I am ready for that,'' he told The Weekend
Australian.

As the men enlisted to fight, the Howard Government
said it would investigate claims that another radical
group was sending Southeast Asian suicide bombers
around the world to attack Jewish interests in
countries that supported Israel, such as Britain, the
US and
Australia.

The revelations about the plot by the Asian Muslim
Youth Movement have been raised with the Indonesian
National Police by the Australian Federal Police.

An INP spokesman said it was investigating and may
have enough reason to question and detain AMYM leader
Suaib Didu if he and the alleged would-be suicide
bombers were found to have violated the law by being
in possession of improper travel documents.

It is understood INP officers will attend today's
''passing out'' ceremony for thousands of AMYM jihadi
recruits on the northern Indonesian island of
Kalimantan.

Mr Didu was travelling to Kalimantan last night to
attend the ceremony.

He has claimed the plot to attack Jewish interests is
being funded in part by Australian-Indonesian
businessmen.

He said earlier this week that 217 jihadis had already
been sent to third countries to fight Israel from
''behind''.

The claims come as dozens of people chanting ''set
free Lebanon and Palestine from Israel'' demonstrated
outside the UN headquarters and the US embassy in
Jakarta.

Child protesters carried plastic guns and there were
large posters of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Federal Human Services Minister Joe Hockey said
yesterday the Government was taking seriously the
reports that bombers had been dispatched with orders
to attack Jewish interests.

''I can tell you that the Minister for Foreign Affairs
and the department are investigating ... and we are
treating it very, very seriously,'' Mr Hockey said.

He said Australia had been a terror target for some
time.

''You only need to look at Bali, and that was before
any major escalation of the conflict in Lebanon and
Israel,'' Mr Hockey said.

''We are a target, we always have been a target and we
will be for a very long period of time.''

Kim Beazley said Australia had major security issues.

''The Government has dropped the ball on practical
measures and protecting ourselves from terrorist
assaults,'' the Opposition Leader said.

Terrorism experts have warned that FPI and AMYM are
openly hostile towards the US and its policies on the
Middle East.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said
terrorism expert Zachary Abuza regarded the threats as
a ''serious development'' and the respected scholar's
concerns were enough for Labor to also regard
the threats as serious.

''I am concerned that this has sprung up without
earlier evidence of action between the (Australian and
Indonesian) governments,'' he said.

Another man who registered yesterday to fight Israel,
31-year-old Eka Jaya, said he wanted to help his
''brothers and sisters''.

''Mujaheddins seek a martyr's death. It is the risk we
face and it is what we yearn for,'' the former junior
league soccer player told The
Weekend Australian.

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The Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday, August 5, 2006

Revenge plans may have to go on hold

Marianne Kearney in Jakarta

A RADICAL Muslim group's alleged plans to send more
than 200 suicide bombers to attack Israeli interests,
or countries supporting the Jewish state, could be
hindered by lack of logistical support, fellow
militants said.

The head of the Asian Islamic Youth Movement, Suaib
Didu, said yesterday that he wanted to send about 200
jihadis from South-East Asia to attack Israeli
interests in revenge for their attacks on Lebanon.

But Cholid, the head of the Islamic Youth Movement in
Solo, central Java, which is affiliated with Didu's
group, says they doubt they could send many
volunteers. "It's not easy to send people there.
First, the distance between Indonesia and Lebanon is
so far, we have to have serious logistical
preparation," he said. "Besides, there has been no
green light from the Government about sending
non-military people to Lebanon."

The Foreign Ministry spokesman, Desra Percaya, said
Jakarta did not encourage Muslims to travel to
Palestine or Lebanon, "but we don't ban it either".

Cholid said that Solo, a city known for its Muslim
radicals, could spare only a handful of men because
youth movement members were helping victims of the
Java tsunami and the Yogyakarta earthquake.

In Jakarta, the chairman of the movement, Choirudin
Amin, was not sure whether any suicide bombers would
be sent abroad. "We had a discussion last time, when
the Israeli attacks heightened, regarding the
possibility of sending mujahideen to the Middle East,"
he said.

An expert on Indonesian militant groups, Ken Conboy,
says he doubts the group will send suicide bombers
abroad. In 2001 Didu threatened to send thousands of
jihadis to Afghanistan when the US invaded. "In late
2001 they tried fund-raising to send jihadis to
Afghanistan, but not a single soul went," he said.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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