Indonesia on alert for terrorist retaliation
Written by Writer on Monday, November 10th, 2008
Indonesia on alert for terrorist retaliation
Jakarta (Agencies) - Indonesia stepped up security around foreign embassies amidst fear of attacks after it executed the three Islamists convicted over the Bali nightclub bombings which killed 202 people six years ago.
Police revealed they had found and defused two bombs in a Balinese Hindu migrant area on Sulawesi island last week as tensions mount ahead of the imminent executions.
“I think there is a connection between this and the execution of Amrozi and others,” local police chief Suparni Parto said.
Imam Samudra, 38, Amrozi, 47, and Mukhlas, 48, were executed early Sunday morning by simultaneous firing squads.day.
National police spokesman Abubakar Nataprawira said extra police had been stationed around embassies in Jakarta, especially the US and Australian missions, as well as sensitive locations across the main island of Java.
“We are increasing security at embassies and public places such as malls,” he told reporters, adding that bus terminals, railway stations and houses of worship were also possible targets.
The three were caught quickly and sentenced for the Oct 12, 2002, bombings on the resort island of Bali which killed more than 160 foreigners including 88 Australians.
The attack, launched in retaliation for the US invasion of Afghanistan, remains one of the bloodiest terror bombings carried out in the name of Islam since the Sept 11 attacks on the United States.
The executions were delayed by a series of failed appeals and most recently by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in September.
Ali Fauzi, beaming broadly like his older brother Amrozi known as the “smiling assassin,” said his family had nothing to be ashamed about.
“Do we feel embarrassed or ashamed of what they have done? No, we feel proud because in this world full of lies and accusations there are still people who are ready to fight against that,” he told reporters in Tenggulun village, East Java.
Fears of a violent backlash from Islamist radicals in the world’s most populous Muslim country have risen amid reports that hundreds of extremists are planning to protest near the prison.
The vast majority of Indonesian Muslims are moderate but a small fanatical fringe have waged jihad, or holy war, for many years in a bid to bring about an Islamic caliphate across Southeast Asia.
The country has been hit by a string of attacks since 2000, including a second bombing in Bali which killed 20 people in 2005, a car bomb at the Australian embassy which killed 10 people in 2004, and another car bombing at the American-owned JW Marriott hotel which killed 12 people in 2003.
Most of the attacks including the 2002 blasts have been attributed to the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror network.
The Bali attacks’ chief mastermind, Malaysian former accountant Noordin Mohammad Top, is still at large and believed to be hiding in Indonesia plotting further bombings against Westerners and the Indonesian state.
Bangkok Post
Sunday November 09, 2008
