A self-confessed leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional militant network said yesterday a hardline faction within the group was responsible for bombings and other terror attacks.
Muhammad Nasir bin Abbas, a Malaysian detained in Indonesia, said Jemaah Islamiyah had split into three factions, with each subscribing to divergent religious views.
"The third group is extremely radical. I suspect that this radical group is behind the terror and bombings in many places," Nasir said in the Central Java town of Pati, broadcast by Elshinta radio.
Jemaah Islamiyah, which seeks to create an Islamic state in Southeast Asia, is blamed for last year's Bali nightclub bombings, the car bombing at Jakarta's JW Marriott hotel in August and a string of other attacks.
The Bali blast killed 202 people and the hotel blast left 12 people dead.
A report in August by the International Crisis Group think tank said there are "some indications" of internal dissent within Jemaah Islamiyah.
"Members are said to be unhappy with recent choices of targets, including the Marriott hotel bombing that killed mostly Indonesian workers," the Brussels-based International Crisis Group wrote.
It said there is also disagreement over the practice of robbing non-Muslims to support Islamic struggle.
Nasir said he was the chief of Jemaah Islamiyah overseeing the Malaysian state of Sabah, the Indonesian part of Borneo island, Sulawesi and the southern Philippines. But the International Crisis Group report described him as deputy for that region, below a man named Mustopa.
He said he and alleged Jemaah Islamiyah leader Abu Bakar Bashir belonged to the more moderate faction of the group and were at odds with key Bali suspects such as Imam Samudra and Amrozi.
Bashir has always called for peaceful means to establish Islamic law, or Shariah, he said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was