ICC Note:

Indonesia has been successful in their counter-terrorism operations in which hundreds of terrorist group members were jailed or killed. However, terrorism influence does not end at imprisonment. The difficulty of the war against terrorism is the influence a terrorist leader continues to have despite being in prison. Reportedly, some exert influence by utilizing the over-crowded Indonesian prison system as a platform to preach support for ISIS. ISIS has threatened the lives of thousands, especially that of Christians and Jews, seeing them as the enemy that needs to be destroyed. It is important to pray against these unruly terrorist groups. 

10/14/2016 Indonesia (Frontera News) – Abu Bakar Ba’asyir personifies the changing shape of terrorism in Southeast Asia.

The surviving co-founder of Indonesia’s local Jemaah Islamiyah jihadist movement, Ba’asyir has denied any personal ties with Osama Bin Laden. Yet he also openly voiced support for the dead Al Qaeda leader and his group has collaborated closely on training.

Jemaah Islamiyah’s military leader, Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, lived in the same Afghan compound as Bin Laden in the early 1990s. Ba’asyir accepted Bin Laden’s request to ally Jemaah Islamiyah in waging war against Christians and Jews in 1998. That same year, Hambali organized for Jemaah Islamiyah members to receive training at one of Al Qaeda’s camps in Afghanistan.

The two groups went on to collaborate on deadly attacks: Jemaah Islamiyah would do reconnaissance and locate raw bomb materials while Al Qaeda would provide explosives expertise and underwrite the operations.

Hambali is thought to have been both the originator and central planner of the 2002 Bali bombings, and to have aided in the 9/11 attack on New York’s Twin Towers.

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