Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Jakarta (Agenzia Fides) – After Ten years since the terrorist attack in Bali in 2002, the Indonesian Islamic extremist groups, weakened and divided, intend to join together to regain strength. This is what the latest report of the International Crisis Group (ICG) says, a study center with offices in all continents, titled "How Indonesian Extremists Regroup". In the Report, sent to FidesAgency, it is stated that these jihadist groups are taking on "new alliances" awakening "sleeping cells" and recruiting new members through the Internet. The Report examines, in particular, an alliance that emerged after 2010 between an extremist group of Medan (North Sumatra), a cell of the movement "Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid" (JAT) in Poso (in the Central Sulawesi province), and a group called "Tim Hisbah" in Solo (central Java). This alliance proves that links between radical groups born in different areas and contexts of the vast Indonesian archipelago much different and far between are extending.
As the ICG reports, the group of Medan had "the brains and money"; the cell in Poso had weapons and trained personnel; the "Tim Hisbah" dealt with finding "young enthusiastic recruits ". This network was eradicated due to some errors, informs the Report, but there are others, and the dangers are not over. The extremists have succeeded, in fact, to travel with ease, to reproduce identity cards, to communicate through discussion forums on the web, to purchase arms and ammunition and to work closely with friends in prison." This creates some alarm - the ICG noted - given that, ten years after the bombing in Bali, in Indonesia, there are no effective programs to prevent jihadist ideology to flourish." (PA) (Agenzia Fides 19/7/2012)
