Posted by
Darko Trifunovic on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 2:12:39 PM
Jihadists Killed Christian Teacher,
Had Planned To Kill American
Source: AP, 28 July
Indonesian terror suspects
executed a Christian teacher in front of his family and were planning to
assassinate an American language teacher before their arrest this month, a top
anti-terrorism official and the suspects' lawyer said Monday.
The ten alleged militants have
also told officers they were plotting to attack the Supreme Court to avenge the
upcoming executions of the Bali nightclub
bombers and attack a joint Singaporean-Indonesian military exercise, the
security official said. The
revelations point to the resilience of Islamist militant networks in
Indonesia despite a U.S.-backed
crackdown that has netted more than 400 suspects in recent years and reduced the
risk of more large-scale attacks on Western targets, most experts
say.
Since Sept. 11, 2001,
Indonesia has been hit by a string of suicide
bombings blamed on members and associates of the regional militant group Jemaah
Islamiyah, including the 2002 nightclub bombings on
Bali island that left 202 people dead, many of them
foreign tourists. The last major strike was in 2005, also on
Bali . The group of 10 militants were arrested in early
July in a series of raids on Sumatra island.
Officers have said one of the suspects was a Singaporean who trained in
Afghanistan with al-Qaeda. Twenty
bombs packed with live bullets were seized from the men. The men's lawyer
Asludin Hatjani said Monday the group was responsible for shooting 59-year-old
Dago Simamora, an Indonesian teacher, to death in front of his children last
year in the south Sumatran town of Pekanbaru. The crime had previously been
unsolved. "It's true, they did that," the lawyer told The Associated Press. He
gave no motive for the attack.
Late Sunday, the anti-terrorism officer
revealed the men were also planning to execute an American teaching English in
the town of
Sekayu , which lies just west of Pekanbaru. He
identified the teacher by his first name of Samuel. A teacher at the SMU-2 school in Sekayu
confirmed a
U.S. citizen called Samuel used to
work there, but left several months ago. She did not give her name. The U.S.
Embassy in the capital,
Jakarta , declined comment. The anti-terrorism officer spoke to The
Associated Press on condition of anonymity, saying that revealing his identity
would jeopardize ongoing anti-terror operations. Hatjani declined to comment on
that allegation, saying interrogations were continuing. The officer also said the group planned
to detonate one of the devices in the car park of the Supreme Court in the
capital, Jakarta , to coincide with the executions
of three militants convicted in the Bali
attacks.
Authorities say they expect to execute the
trio before the beginning of September.
He also said the group was planning to
attack a joint Indonesia-Singaporean military exercise at Baturaja, the
Indonesian military's major combat training area. It is located in south
Sumatra . The official declined to say how
advanced the planning was in the operations.
Officers have previously said
the group also planned to attack a cafe in the Sumatran tourist town of
Bukittinggi , but
aborted it at the last minute out of fears there would be too many Muslim
casualties.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/28/asia/AS-Indonesia-Terror-Plot.php
(Comment: In this instance, at least, it
would appear that Indonesian jihadis have learned that the wholesale massacre of
their co-religionists is counterproductive and erodes support. Targeting other religions and foreigners
suggests a more refined targeting approach.)