Posted on 03/17/2007 7:47:36 AM PDT by Valin
Muslim militants behind a series of bombings in Indonesia in recent years are damaging the cause of radical Islam in the country, an alleged leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant group said, highlighting a split in extremist ranks. In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Abu Rusdan also said that small terror groups working independently and influenced by Internet teachings were likely to launch more attacks against Western targets in the world's most populous Muslim nation. "Muslims who have experience in jihad and received an education in it feel obliged to practice it where ever they are," Rusdan said Friday in his large family house on the outskirts of Kudus, a town on Indonesia's main island of Java. "They will look for religious justification to carry out (attacks)".
Rusdan is an Afghan-trained militant believed by police and the United States to be a key leader in Jemaah Islamiyah, the shadowy Southeast Asian network that spawned many of the region's terrorists and is believed to have received funds and direction from al-Qaida. Rusdan declined to directly condemn the militants responsible for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings and other attacks, saying only that their actions "were counterproductive" because they were not universally accepted by Muslims in the country. "We cannot call what they did an act of evil, let alone terrorism," he said. "But we must see the objective facts: Those actions did not bring positive results in efforts to spread the faith in Indonesia. We need to tell them to think again."
Indonesia has arrested and convicted almost 300 suspected militants in recent years and is trying to promote less violent interpretations of the faith, both among regular people and militants. Authorities have engaged some former terrorists in the campaign, but Rusdan he would not cooperate, calling those that work closely with the government "traitors." "If the government still thinks Islam is a threat, we can never have a meeting of minds," he said.
The Bali bombings killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, and thrust the mostly moderate, secular country onto the front lines of the war on terror. Three other suicide attacks on Western targets in the country have since killed more than 40 other people. Rusdan, 46, said he had no role in terrorist activities, but he danced around questions over his involvement in Jemaah Islamiyah or the group's existence. Choosing his words carefully, he said he never been an "official" member of the group, but declined to elaborate.
Police and analysts say he took over as head of the group's mainstream faction in 2002 _ after the arrest of former leader Abu Bakar Bashir _ but likely had no direct knowledge of the bombings, which were carried out by people working outside the network's chain of command. Rusdan was arrested in 2003 and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in jail for hiding one of the militants convicted in the Bali blasts, but he was released in late 2005. Indonesia has not made membership of Jemaah Islamiyah a criminal offense.
Rusdan said more attacks, carried out by independent groups, were likely. "No one can control groups who want to do those kinds of actions," he said. "Many people are not satisfied about the conditions in Indonesia. They can do many things under the influence of teachings on the Internet or books that are circulating widely."
Rusdan said he left for Afghanistan in 1985. He said he then lived in Malaysia, where he was close to some of Southeast Asia's most notorious terrorists, including Hambali, also known as Riduan Isamuddin, who is now in U.S. custody. In 2005, the U.S. government listed Rusdan as a terror leader and ordered banks to block any financial assets he may have there. Similar actions have been taken against several other Indonesians.
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