Jakarta, new extremist cell linked to al Qaeda: eight arrests
Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Indonesian police have identified a newly formed, Islamic extremist cell, linked to the international terror movement founded by Osama bin Laden. The fundamentalist group is called Indonesian Al-Qaeda and, according to investigative sources, had already "planned" - even though there were certain dates - a series of devastating attacks on sensitive targets in the country. The deputy police spokesman in Jakarta, Brigadier General Boy Rafli Amar says that this new extremist organization has "designed" a new model of detonator, using containers for cooking rice to enhance the effects of the explosion and cause the most possible casualties and damage.
Il nuovo metodo di fabbricazione degli ordigni è stato scoperto dagli agenti dell'anti-terrorismo, nel corso di un raid avvenuto la scorsa settimana a Surakarta (Solo), nello Java centrale, in seguito al quale sono stati arrestati otto sospetti estremisti. Alla guida del gruppo vi sarebbe Badri Hartono, meglio noto col nome di battaglia Toni, 45 anni, fermato in precedenza dalla polizia.
The new method
of manufacture of explosives was discovered by anti-terrorism agents, during a
raid last week in Surakarta
(Solo), central Java, following which they arrested eight suspected extremists.
The
suspected leader of the group Badri Hartono, better known as the Battle Toni,
45, had been stopped earlier by the police.
During
the operation, the security departments seized dozens of materials and articles
suitable for the preparation of bombs, including a liquid "extremely
lethal" substance as confirmed by Gen. Amar. To
illustrate the danger, the senior officer explained that it is comparable to
the bomb detonated by a suicide bomber aboard a minivan in August 2003, which
hit the Marriot Hotel in South Jakarta,
killing 12 people and wounding 150 others.
Along
with Toni, police arrested seven suspected extremists in several areas
including Solo, Tangerang and West Kalimantan.
Among
those arrested was Joko Tri Priyanto, already sentenced to three years in
prison and released in 2007, for providing accommodation and hospitality to
Malaysian terrorist Noordin Moh. Top. Another
component of the newly formed extremist cell led by Badri Hartono is Thorik,
already chosen as a possible suicide bomber in an attack that is still under
investigation.
In
recent days, Security Minister Djoko Suyanto, refused to confirm the reports
that the extremist Indonesian Al-Qaeda cell wanted to attack the temple of Borobudur in Magelang, in central Java,
the largest Buddhist place of worship the world and a world
heritage site.
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