Bali bomber led new terrorist gang
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday March 11, 2010
INDONESIAN authorities are in hot pursuit of Umar Patek, the last alumnus of the Bali bombing terrorist cell who remains at large after the death this week of his accomplice Dulmatin.It is believed the two men, who had been hiding in the southern Philippines for years, returned to Indonesia more than six months ago to set up a new terrorist group based in Aceh drawing on militants from several radical groups.The Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in Canberra yesterday, announced the death of Dulmatin."We can confirm that one of those killed was Mr Dulmatin, one of the top South-East Asian terrorists that we've been looking for," Dr Yudhoyono said.The other terrorist being sought by Indonesian police is Patek, Dulmatin's long-standing friend and an Indonesian of Arabian descent, intelligence sources told the Herald.Dulmatin, an explosives and electronics expert, funnelled weapons, ammunition and 500 million rupiah ($60,000) to the terrorist training camp in Aceh, the Indonesian police chief, Bambang Hendarso Danuri, said.Patek, meanwhile, is believed to have emerged as an ideological and operational leader of the new cell, at least as senior as Dulmatin. Patek was the deputy field commander in the first Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, in 2002.The new terrorist group brings together jihadist expertise from across South-East Asia, and shows how militants have regrouped following the death last year of the terrorist leader Noordin Mohammed Top.Sidney Jones, a Jakarta-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, said the cell in Aceh was a grouping of disaffected militants, frustrated that the leadership of their own organisations will not sanction mass attacks on civilians.She said some of those detained were linked to Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid, the new group led by the cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.Bashir - infamous for his praise of the Bali bombers - was imprisoned, and then released after a successful appeal, for the 2002 attacks.Others are from the radical fringe of Darul Islam, the anti-Christian organisation KOMPAK, Jemaah Islamiah and the Islamic Defenders' Front."What we have seen is a coming together of the most militant people from different jihadist groups," Ms Jones said. "They have all come up to Aceh."The governor of Aceh, Irwandi Yusuf, said authorities had been monitoring the militants for close to a year.The group has its roots in a program run by the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI), an Islamist gang famous for beating up pro-secular activists. FPI sent cadres to Aceh to train to fight Israeli troops in Gaza."When the conflict at the Gaza Strip died down, [another] organisation took the opportunity to recruit these boys," Mr Irwandi said."This was the beginning of the terrorist training."Mr Irwandi said the group had no ties to GAM, the armed separatist group in Aceh of which he was once a senior member.Ms Jones said the appeal of Aceh would have been its location, strategically placed between south Asia and Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand.She cautioned that the new group may have other cells outside the Sumatran province.Dulmatin was shot dead at point-blank range on Tuesday by counter-terrorism police in a raid on an internet cafe in Jakarta's outskirts, with witnesses disputing police accounts that they were fired upon.Dulmatin remotely detonated the huge car bomb that devastated the Sari Club while holiday-makers danced in October 2002.THE PLOTTERSShot dead in raid 2005Azahari Husin Australian-educated Malay who wrote bomb manual used in attacks.Executed in 2008MukhlasThe senior strategist who selected the Paddy's Bar and Sari Club as sites.Executed in 2008Imam Samudra Field commander and recruiter.Executed in 2008AmroziThe €˜smiling€™ assasin bomber purchased explosive materials and van used in Sari Club.Shot dead by police 2009Noordin Mohammed Top Key financier and recruiter for Jemaah Islamiah groupbehind attacks.KIlled 2010DulmatinExplosives expert who helped assemble bombs.At largeUmar Patek Deputy field commander who fled to the Philippines with Dulmatin. Believed to be back in Indonesia.
© 2010 Sydney Morning Herald