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Indonesia says arrests weakened militant groups
06 Jul 2008 08:06:59 GMT
 Source: Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 (Reuters) - Indonesia's foreign minister said on Sunday recent detentions of Islamic militants suspected of plotting to attack Western targets have weakened but not crippled terrorist movements in the country.

Ten suspects, including a Singaporean, were detained and a large cache of bombs found in recent raids in Palembang, 425 km (260 miles) northwest of Jakarta, and other areas in South Sumatra. The group had initially been plotting to attack a cafe popular with tourists in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra, a police source said, but had switched to Western targets in Jakarta.

Speaking in the Malaysian capital, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Indonesia's anti-terrorism drive has yielded some success.

"We are not sure whether we have crippled (them), but the fact that they are on the run, and the fact that we have uncovered various terrorist cells in the past three years means that they are within our reach," he said.

"And that's why we feel more secure," he told reporters at the sidelines of a meeting of eight developing Islamic nations grouping Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.

There have been no major attacks in Indonesia for more than two years and raids, often involving Detachment 88, a police unit funded and trained by the United States and Australia, have led to the arrest of hundreds of militant suspects.

The 10 suspects have also been linked to key figures involved in the regional militant network, Jemaah Islamiah (JI), including Noordin Mohammad Top, a fugitive Malaysian wanted for a string of attacks in Indonesia, and bomb-maker Azahari Husin, another Malaysian killed in a shootout with police in East Java in 2005.

Security expert Rohan Gunaratna identified the Singaporean as Mohammed Hassan, who met Osama bin Laden while on training in Afghanistan.

Hassan was suspected of working closely with Mas Selamat Kastari, the suspected leader of JI's operations in Singapore, on a plot to crash a plane into Singapore's Changi Airport in 2002.

Mas Selamat escaped from a Singapore jail earlier this year.

Wirajuda said Jakarta was hoping to get information on Mas Selamat's whereabouts from Hassan.

"Certainly from the arrests that include Mohammad Hassan, we will get more information on whether there is any indication or information on the whereabouts of Mas Selamat," he said.

(Reporting by Jalil Hamid and Faisal Aziz; Editing by Bill Tarrant)


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