Summary of recent reports on terror and related activity over the last week.

On Sat, 13th May two United States’ police officers visited the scene of last month’s raid on a terrorist hideout in Wonosobo, central Java. They poked in and around the house for a half hour.

The chief of the Wonosobo police, who accompanied them, was later reluctant to reveal any information about his visitors.

News of some relation comes from the Taipei Times which reports on the work of US special anti-terror units on active service in south-east Asia, mainly in the southern Philippines. US Special Operations Forces are said to be comprised of Army Rangers and Special Forces (Green Berets), Navy SEALS (sea, air, land), the Air Force’s special operations aviation regiment, a new Marine unit in training and psych. operations and civil affairs units.

The major news of the week was of the possibility that Noordin M. Top’s group had intended to target the D-8 conference in Bali and/or the celebration of the Buddhist holiday of Waisak, at Borobudur temple in Yogyakarta special region.

The National Police Chief, General Sutanto, in a hearing at the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission for Law, claimed that one of the men captured in last month’s raid, one Mustaghfirin, had confessed these events were likely targets.

Mustagfirin said that during questioning.
(Hal itu dikatakan Mustagfirin kepada penyidik yang memeriksanya)

Sutanto added that the group had prepared a 20 kilogram bomb and that Mustagfirin had visited Borobudur only a few days before being arrested.

We are thankful that we caught them before any more victims could be claimed.
(Jadi kita bersyukur sudah berhasil kita tangkap sehingga tidak terjadi korban baru lagi.)

Sutanto also said that the terror suspects had confessed to committing a number of robberies, like this one, in central Java in order to raise funds for terrorist attacks.

So their funds were gained from robberies, as admitted by Mustagfirin. Recently they had planned another robbery in the central Java area.
(Jadi sumber dana mereka diperoleh dari hasil merampok, seperti diakui Mustagfirin. Terakhir mereka merencanakan merampok di daerah Jawa Tengah.)

Mustagfirin appears to have one very big mouth.

The fact that they were dependent on getting money from robberies, said Sutanto, proved that they were not being financially supported by any religious foundation or group.

Their group [Dr Azhari and Noordin M. Top’s] never got support from a particular community.
(Kelompok mereka juga tidak pernah mendapatkan dukungan dari komunitas tertentu.)

The Muslim community had never offered the terrorists support, said Sutanto, perhaps in response to claims by the Majelis Mujahidin yesterday.

In another report Sutanto is believed to have implied that the “central Java problem” was largely over, that the terrorists would seek new hideouts. This may tie in with other recent reports stating that southern Sumatra is now suspected of being the lying-low place for Noordin M. Top and friends.

________________

February 26th 2007.

Mustagfirin was sentenced to twelve years prison today in Semarang, after beng found guilty of having committed robberies and of storing weapons and bomb-making materials.