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Australians Furious at State of Bali Bombings Site October 10, 2012 Australian relatives of the 2002 Bali bombing victims walk out of the carpark of Sari club, which was one of the bombing sites, ahead of the 10th anniversary in Kuta, on the resort island of Bali on Oct. 10, 2012. Eighty-eight Australians were among the 202 people killed in the attacks on Sari Club and Paddy's Bar at the popular tourist area of Kuta on October 12, 2002. Kuta, Bali. Friends and relatives of Australian victims of Indonesia’s Bali bombings have expressed outrage after learning that the site of...

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia's most wanted Islamist militant was killed in a police shoot-out in Central Java, police said on Thursday, lifting a major security threat ahead of a planned visit by U.S. President Barack Obama. Malaysian-born Noordin Mohammad Top, who set up a violent splinter group of regional militant network Jemaah Islamiah, was widely considered the mastermind of the bomb attacks on two luxury hotels in Jakarta in July, as well as other attacks in Bali and in Jakarta which killed scores of Westerners and Indonesians. National police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri announced Top's death at a news conference,...

BOOK REVIEW The Mother of Mohammed by Sally Neighbour Reviewed by David Wilson What drives a blonde Australian beach bunny to go on jihad? That extraordinary question serves as the premise for one of the most absorbing non-fiction titles to surface this year. The Mother of Mohammed (MUP) by Australian journalist Sally Neighbour, 48, digs into the background of the beach bunny in question, Rabiah - born Robyn - Hutchinson, with flair, wit and candor. This book pulls no punches. "She was a scrawny, pale-skinned runt, with a shock of frizzy white-blonde hair and an eye-patch she wore from the...

JAKARTA, July 23 (Reuters) - The Indonesian wife of Noordin Top, the region's most-wanted militant because of his role in a string of bomb attacks in Indonesia, did not know his real name and thought he was a teacher, her lawyer said on Thursday. Malaysian-born Top is one of the prime suspects behind last week's near-simultaneous suicide bomb attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton, two luxury hotels in Jakarta's main business district, which killed nine people and injured 53, including Indonesians and foreigners. Police and security analysts said the attacks bore the hallmarks of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the militant...

Bali bombing cleric attacks western tourists By Nick Squires in Sydney Last Updated: 1:56am GMT 25/03/2008 Western tourists in Indonesia are "maggots, snakes and worms" who should be beaten up, the alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings has told hardline Islamic followers. Abu Bakar Bashir, the cleric who was convicted of conspiracy over the Bali bombings but later cleared and released from prison after 26 months, said the island resort had been overrun by scantily-clad tourists who deserved to be attacked for their immorality. "Worms, snakes, maggots... those are animals that crawl. Take a look at Bali... those infidel...

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Three Indonesian militants on death row for their involvement in planning the Bali bombings five years ago said on Saturday they were ready to die and would not seek a presidential pardon. Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Mukhlas, also known as Ali Gufron, were sentenced to death for the October 12, 2002 resort island bombings in which over 200 people died. They face execution by a firing squad after the country's top court rejected their appeal. "Clemency is not from Islamic law. I have been living as a Muslim and will die as a Muslim," state news agency...

INDONESIAN militant Abu Dujana will sue the police, saying he was shot in the thigh by members of an elite anti-terrorist unit after surrendering, one of his lawyers said today. Dujana, who is believed to head a military wing of the South-East Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), was captured on June 9 during a police raid in central Java. Lawyer Achmad Michdan said the country's anti-terrorism unit, Detachment 88, had violated the suspect's rights by shooting him after he had surrendered. "We will sue the Indonesian police and Detachment 88 and we will ask the court to examine the...

Seven suspects, including two Australian sons of a Jemaah Islamiah leader, have confessed to involvement in smuggling weapons to Somalia and collecting money for terrorist attacks, Yemeni officials say. The group includes Sydney men Abdullah Ayub, 19, Mohammed Ayub, 21, and Marek Samulski, 35. The Ayub brothers are sons of JI leader Abdul Rahim Ayub, who fled Australia after the Bali bombings. Investigators have linked them to a member of an alleged Sydney terrorist cell who was arrested and charged a year ago. The men, along with a Briton, a Dane, a Somali and another suspect, allegedly acknowledged during interrogation...

SHE has been depicted as the home-grown den mother for jihadists and judged a security risk by ASIO, but Rabiah Hutchison says she is neither. Try devout mother, proud Muslim and health worker to some of the world's most dispossessed people. The former wife of Jemaah Islamiah's Australian boss, Abdul Rahim Ayub, and the mother of two sons picked up as suspected terrorists in Yemen last month, Ms Hutchison broke her silence to the Herald yesterday. "I am saddened by what I have seen and heard in the media … it's all lies," Ms Hutchison said. She labelled the notion...

JAKARTA, April 14 (IslamOnline) - Alleged Al-Qaeda operative, Yazid Sufaat, denied terror charges, while he admitted that he met two Arab nationals at his condominium in Kuala Lumpur two years ago, a news report from Malaysiakini.com said on Sunday. However, Sufaat, high on the FBI list of suspects from South East Asia, who might be members or operatives of the Al-Qaeda, stressed the duo could not be involved in the Sept 11 attacks as they were amputees shopping for prosthetic legs in Malaysia. The 37-year-old pathologist and former army captain, who is also a businessmen in Malaysia, told this to...

TWO of the Australian men arrested in Yemen on terrorism charges are the sons of Abdul Rahim Ayub, the man who set up a Jemaah Islamiah cell here and fled after the Bali bombings. The Herald can also reveal that the mother of the two brothers is an Australian-born woman called Rabiah Hutchison and is regarded by security agencies as possibly more radical than her former husband. Ms Hutchison is in Yemen with her sons, Mohammed Ayub and Abdullah Ayub, and the Herald has been told that their tour group was joined by some of the wives of the men...

TWO Australian-born brothers of Anglo-Saxon background were arrested in Yemen on terrorism charges after information was passed on by Australian security agencies. The brothers, aged 18 and 21, and another Australian of Polish extraction were arrested two weeks ago, suspected of being members of an al-Qaeda cell and plotting to smuggle arms to Somalia. All three men are from NSW, and security sources say some of them have links to the Ayub brothers, who allegedly set up a Jemaah Islamiah cell in Australia in the late 1990s. A Sydney lawyer, Adam Houda, said he had been contacted by the family...

WITHIN two years of Abu Bakar Bashir's last clandestine visit to Australia, terror suspect Jack Thomas had met and married - within a day - a close friend of the cleric's wife and was meeting with senior figures in the terrorist network Jemaah Islamiah. Thomas's new wife, Indonesian-born Maryati Idris, was central to introducing him to the organisation that has been blamed for a series of terrorist attacks including the two Bali bombings. Through these connections he was also introduced to the mysterious Indonesian twin brothers - Abdul Rahim Ayub and Abdul Rahman Ayub - who were entrusted with setting...

The military believed that plans by the Abu Sayyaf to conduct bombings in the country were averted with the discovery of the biggest camp of the group in Jolo, Sulu, ABS-CBN News reported Friday. An exclusive report of late night newscast Bandila said that as early as July, the military had already planned to raid the camp of the Abu Sayyaf in the jungles of Jolo after receiving information from residents living nearby. The camp was being used as training ground for Abu Sayyaf members and was once the hiding place of leaders Abu Sulayman, Khadaffy Janjalani and Radulan...

A young Indonesian with close links to al-Qaeda is thought to be the new head of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) militant group, a senior policeman says. Abu Dujana, who is about 34 years old, now leads the Islamic group blamed for hundreds of deaths in Bali and elsewhere, said Petrus Reinhard Golose. Some 270 alleged JI members, including senior leaders, have been arrested since 2000, he added. But Abu Dujana was a capable leader and the group was still a threat, he said. Colonel Golose, a senior anti-terror commander, said arresting him was now a "priority". He said Abu Dujana...

TERROR plotter Zacarias Moussaoui told a Muslim militant he dreamed of crashing a plane into the White House, according to testimony at the al-Qaeda conspirator's death penalty trial today. Singapore-born Faiz Abu Bakar Bafana, a member of the radical Indonesia-based group Jemaah Islamiah, said in testimony recorded in 2002 that he hosted a man he knew only as "John" in Kuala Lumpur in mid-2000, who told him of the dream. Jurors later saw Bafana assert during cross-examination that "John" was Moussaoui. Moussaoui is the first person tried in the US in connection with the September 11, 2001 attacks, which killed...

Four Indonesians arrested last week have been named suspects under anti-terrorism laws in October's restaurant bombings on Bali and for hiding a key militant. "These four people are believed to have been involved in the 2005 Bali bombings," deputy national police spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam said. "They also helped hide Noordin M Top during and after the bombings." Police have been conducting a nationwide manhunt for Top, a senior member of Jemaah Islamiah - a shadowy militant group seen as the South-East Asian arm of Al Qaeda. Top is blamed for helping mastermind a series of bombings in Indonesia in...

INTERPOL is investigating whether terrorist groups such as Jemaah Islamiah are linked to environmental crimes. The head of Interpol's Environmental Crimes Committee Andrew Lauterback said there was anecdotal evidence those behind the world's major wildlife smuggling and illegal waste dumping were linked to organised crime. Such links had been established between ivory poaching and terrorist groups in Somalia, he said, and Interpol was investigating the possible involvement of major terrorist networks. "Obviously, that's something that we're looking into, but that's probably all I can say," Mr Lauterback said in Brisbane today. Mr Lauterback, who spoke at the Australian Environmental Law...

JI Philippines threat 'serious' From correspondents in Manila, Philippines 22oct05 THE Jemaah Islamiah (JI) extremist group in the southern Philippines poses a serious threat to the entire region, a special US envoy said. US State Department coordinator for counterterrorism Henry Crumpton also encouraged the Philippine government to pass long delayed counter-terrorism legislation. "The threat is very serious if you look at recent events, the intention of enemy forces, their collaborating with affiliates all around the region ... their technical skills especially in bomb making, their tradecraft skills." His warning came after the Philippine military said JI was still conducting training...

Australia to tackle JI on Mindanao From correspondents in Zamboanga 17oct05 AUSTRALIA and the Philippines are to expand security cooperation amid concern over Islamic militants on the island of Mindanao, Australian Defence Minister Robert Hill said today. Both countries will boost intelligence exchanges and maritime surveillance, focusing on the infiltration of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) militants into Mindanao, Mr Hill said during a visit to this southern port. Hill met with Lieutenant General Edilberto Adan, chief of the Philippine military's southern command, and said there could also be "further training and support for special forces, particularly in long-range reconnaissance work". He...