Only days after capturing the man believed to lead Jemaah Islamiyah's military operations. "Indonesian police say JI head captured," by Presi Mandari for Agence France-Presse:
JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesian police said Friday they had captured the head of Southeast Asian extremist network Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for some of the deadliest terror attacks in the region.
They said Zarkasi had been heading the militant Muslim outfit since 2004 and that he had been seized in raids last weekend which also netted the alleged head of a JI special forces unit.
The capture of Zarkasi, who is also known as Mbah which means grandfather in Javanese, is a further blow to JI, an Al-Qaeda-linked organisation that aims to create a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia through violent jihad.
Of course, without addressing the underlying ideology and its sources in Islamic teachings, this is only a temporary victory.
"Zarkasi controlled JI operations across the whole of Indonesia," said Surya Dharma, head of the country's anti-terror unit, Detachment 88.
He said the 45-year-old militant was in charge of training JI leaders, controlling weapons and ammunition, and managing assignments for attacks.
Sidney Jones, a JI expert and the Southeast Asian director of the International Crisis Group, told AFP that Zarkasi was from "the real first important generation of JI".
JI is a shadowy organisation and information about who is who within the group, and what roles they play, is scarce.
The anti-terror chief Dharma said Zarkasi was nabbed in Indonesia's cultural capital of Yogyakarta a few hours after the capture of 37-year-old Abu Dujana, named as the head of a special forces unit within JI.
Dujana's capture alone was considered to be a major breakthrough for Indonesia's efforts to curb the activities of the group, blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people -- mostly westerners -- and a string of other attacks on western or Christian targets.
[...]
In video footage aired at the press conference, the pair spoke calmly of their roles in the organisation.
A bespectacled and greying Zarkasi said he had become the effective leader of JI in 2004 when it had created a "board" at its peak, while a wiry, moustachioed Dujana said he had headed the organisation's military wing.
Zarkasi said he had only been leader while the organisation searched for "a real leader so that (we) are guided in performing our religion in a good way, either by faith propagation or in jihad (holy war)...
"We are continuing to look for a good amir (leader), the real one," he added.
Raids in Yogyakarta in March, in which one militant was shot dead and seven others arrested, had led police to charts mapping the structure of JI, which showed that a board governed the group.
At the time, Dharma said, they were sure the board existed but they didn't know who sat on it.
The raids led to a major seizure of bombs and weapons, which police said would have been used in future atrocities.
And there are plenty more where he came from. It's an important find but doesn't signal the end of JI. No doubt JI, like al Qaeda, can survive the bump in the road that is the capture of its leading figures.
Since 9/11 groups that once had a strict hierarchy have spread themselves out so that not even cutting off the head can kill the body of the snake.
...like the death of a thousand cuts...one here, one there...another over there...another over there....it may take a while....but death is certain....Islam is for losers...
One down and a godzillion more to go. You can't breed murdering thugs without getting them all who do the deeds, or else all you do is get someone else leading the slaughter.
captured the head of Southeast Asian extremist network Jemaah Islamiyah,, now what happened to the rest of the body? sarc off, if they meant capturing and putting these criminals away for good, they would not have to capture the head of what ever. Indonesia is soft on their muslim criminals.
LOL!! ZenaWarriorPrincess I had the same thought when I first read the caption. I guess it it all the talk of beheadings these days.
2 years prison time, and out early for good behavior.
Islamic justice.
The Indonesian poice should remove his head not capture it.
The Indonesian police should remove his head not capture it.
Noticed Abu Dujana had his 'legs' covered when shown off to media-bet he got tortured alright as info & capture of Zarkasi practically HAPPENED the next day!
Has anyone heard usual protests & bleatings by Irene Khan and her ilk? Only in 'decadent' West is there screaming about 'Human Rights' of Jihadis.
Agree that they will be let off after a couple of years away from Media spotlight with a PRESIDENTAL PARDON. Seems you can get executed or life imprisonment in an Indonesian hell hole of a jail for trying to smuggle a few
kilos of cannibis-however, kidnap & torture & behead Infidels-only punishment will be slap over the wrist-celebrity status and FREEDOM to do it all again when released.What a wonderfully
convenient religion Islam is .
A few 'show trials' of captured terrorists & grateful U.S will keep up funding to Indonesian
Government who must be rubbling their hands with
glee at stupidity of Kaffirs. No doubt they will
receive a special visit from George W telling them what a 'magnificent contribution Indonesia is making to War on Terror & Democracy'...
Excuse me, I need to puke.
Captured the head/ Dosen't matter much. Another sheep will step into his place tomorrow. Jihad is an assembly line, remove a defect, and there's another new part right behind it.
We will be right back after these messages for reports of his release and a parade thrown in his honor.
He'll be sentenced to 13.5 years in prison, then be released after serving 2 months to a hero's welcome. As per the norm over there.
did they also find the body???????
...unfortunately, his legs are still on the run.
"Indonesian police say Jemaah Islamiyah head has been captured"
We hope that the head was severed from the body of this person to allow its capture.
[not original, been said before here, but I could not resist]
A high pyramid of heads of jihadists would be a start.
They will spend a few years in jail, working on their next jihadist adventure and will be quitely freed when the world attention is focused somewhere else. See Abu Bakar and his ilk.