Suspected terrorists have changed tactics from suicide bombing to armed warfare, as indicated by the group recently revealed to be involved in a training camp in Aceh, the National Police chief says.
“They are now more dangerous and are targeting important figures such as the police chief and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,” National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said Tuesday during his visit to Aceh.
“We hope that everyone in Aceh, from village chiefs, local military and police leaders including local officials, is on the alert and immediately reports to authorities if they find action that aims to
undermine peace in Aceh,” Bambang said.
Bambang inspected the scene where two terror suspects, Encang Kurnia and Pura Sudarma, were shot dead near the Leupung Police station in Aceh Besar regency on March 16. The police also arrested eight suspects believed to be Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) members trying to flee the province last week.
Bambang said the two slain terrorists were members of the JI.
Police said they were key figures who were involved in a number of attacks such as the bombings of the JW Marriot Hotel, the Jakarta Stock Exchange Building and in Bali.
“There are still another 14 suspects on our wanted list."
“They are very dangerous and each has a special skill,” Bambang said, adding one was Encang Kurnia’s younger brother Jaja, believed to be still in Aceh.
“Jaja was one person who eluded our raid in Jati Asih, Bekasi, in West Java last year,” Bambang said.
Following the arrest of four suspects in the Jalin mountainous area in Jantho, Aceh Besar, police were able to hunt down and kill top suspect Dulmatin in Pamulang, Tangerang, Banten, recently.
Police have also arrested 38 suspects in the past few weeks.
Thirty-one were caught alive and are being detained in Aceh and Kelapa Dua, Depok, near Jakarta.
The JI, Bambang said, “was purely an international terror network and not associated with the Free Aceh Movement [GAM].”
Experts have said supporters of suspected terrorists in Aceh included GAM former members, who either did not agree with the international agreement, which ended the war with the Indonesian government, or were disillusioned after failing to gain employment and integrate with society.
In Jakarta, chief detective Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi said police were tracing a main suspect, Umar Patek, at Aceh’s terrorist training camp.
“According to early questioning sessions [with arrested suspects], those with extensive experience in Afghanistan and the Philippines were trainers at the Aceh camp,” he said Monday. “Umar Patek was one of them.”
Earlier police said Umar had likely influenced the training from his base in the Philippines.
Umar, born in 1970, was believed to be an assistant field coordinator of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.
He is wanted by at least three governments: the US, Australia and the Philippines, over terrorism charges.
Along with the late Joko Pitono alias Dulmatin and Zulkarnain, Umar Patek alias Pak Taek is considered one of JI’s top leaders.
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