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February 28, 2006
Indonesia: Islamist Terror Group Funded By Al Qaeda
A report in the Jakarta Post claims that the terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) is funded by Al Qaeda.
Petrus Reinhard Golose of Indonesia's counterterrorism task force claims that funds were delivered by courier to key leaders of the Islamist group. He told reporters that these funds came from Al Qaeda, but refused to say if he specifically meant Osama bin Laden.
SInce 2003, Indonesian authorities have claimed Al Qaeda was behind the financing of Jemaah Islamiyah.
Petrus said that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in America in 2001, had personally supervised the ransfer of funds, which went through Thailand and Malaysia before it arrived in Indonesia.
The first major bomb blast by Jemaah Islamiyah was the twin-bomb attack upon the mainly Hindu island of Bali, on October 2, 2002. The victims were predominately Western tourists at nightclubs who were targeted. At least 88 Australians died. This assault was sponsored with $US 30,000, Petrus claimed.
He added that the car-bombing of the J W Marriott hotel in Jakarta on 5 August 2003 was funded by a transfer of tens of thousands of dollars. Twelve people were killed in this attack.
Some of the money which was not employed in funding the hotel attack became used to sponsor the attack on Thursday, September 9, 2004 upon the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. This truck-bomb attack killed eleven people.
He admitted he was not sure of how much money was involved in the latest JI attack on Bali, where three bombs killed 26 people on October 1, 2005.
Petrus also stated that several JI members personally met with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, and signed agreements with him prior to the attacks.
Local activists of JI in Indonesia gathered donations from sympathisers, and also staged robberies. At least five people have been convicted for jewel store robberies.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at February 28, 2006 6:36 PM
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