AFP
Indonesian security forces lately announced a series of arrests of high-profile Jemaah Islamiyah suspects. These include Siswanto (Ustad Arif) and Aris Sumarsono (better known as Zulkarnaen), alleged, respectively, to be the terrorist group’s overall head and its longtime operations chief.
Siswanto’s arrest is the second one of a JI leader in as many years, but some reporting suggests he is merely a senior religious figure who headed the committee to select the group’s next emir – or spiritual leader. This year alone has seen the arrest of more than 30 JI suspected members.
All of this is surprising for a group that has been out of the limelight for nearly a decade, during which JI members have stepped back from their campaign of violence. The last bombing perpetrated by JI was a suicide attack in 2011 that targeted a mosque in a police compound in Cirebon.
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‘US still the target’: Indonesia’s arrest of Jemaah Islamiah terrorist leader reveals thousands of recruits Amy Chew in Kuala Lumpur Members of Indonesian counterterrorism task force Detachment 88 during an anti-terror exercise at the Borobodur hotel in Jakarta. The unit recently arrested the leader of IS, Ustad Arif. Photo: AFP
About two months ago, Indonesian counterterrorism task force Detachment 88 arrested a little-known cleric named Ustad Arif, according to a senior security source.
The 54-year-old from Klaten, Central Java, turned out to be the leader of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the Southeast Asia branch of al-Qaeda.
JI was behind all the deadly terror attacks in Indonesia from 1998 to 2010 before it was weakened by Indonesian counterterrorism police, who arrested hundreds of its members during the period, including several leaders.
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Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist leader under arrest in Indonesia, security source says Amy Chew in Kuala Lumpur The house where Azahari Hussein, one of Asia s most-wanted terrorists, spent his last hours, alongside a T-shirt for sale bearing Azahari’s likeness, in Batu, Indonesia in 2005. Azahari taught his bomb-making skills to Upik Lawanga, who was arrested by Indonesian police two weeks ago. Photo: AFP
The leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the group behind the devastating Bali bombings, has been arrested in Indonesia along with one of the group s expert bomb makers, a senior security source told This Week in Asia on Thursday.