Here is more evidence that jihadis think of themselves as fighting a struggle that did not begin with them and will not end with them, but is part of a 1,400-year-old jihad: “Expecting their own capture or death, South-East Asian Islamic extremists sent their sons to Pakistan for training in how to attack Western targets so they could take over as the next generation of terrorist leaders.” This from The Mercury, with thanks to nicolei and Jean-Luc.
“In a crackdown on the practice, five Malaysian students, including four teenagers, have been jailed without trial after raids on Islamic boarding schools in Karachi, which had sent them on field trips to get experience of Islamic militant operations. The students had weapons and explosives training in Afghanistan and Kashmir, and some met al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden before the US-led Afghan war started in late 2001, Malaysian police said.
“Three of the five students are the sons of members of an alleged Malaysian cell of Jemaah Islamiah – the al-Qaeda-linked terror network operating throughout South-East Asia – who were jailed two years ago. A fourth is the brother of a jailed militant suspect.
“Hambali, once operations chief for JI, arranged for some of his students to get Pakistan-based training, a senior Malaysian government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Hambali has been in US custody since August, but ran an Islamic school in Malaysia for years before going on the run just before the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. His plan was to train future JI leaders, with the students returning home by 2006 to take up jihad, or holy war, said another Malaysian official. . . . The five were indoctrinated in an extreme version of Islam in Pakistan and were learning how to attack US targets – including organising suicide missions – in Malaysia and elsewhere, authorities said. No specific plots were described.
“Under interrogation, the students said their instructors told them ‘they must take up arms, especially against Westerners’, the Malaysian security official said.”