Ba'asyir Held for Al-Qaeda Plot Links

The plot was inspired by the bloody siege of the Indian city of Mumbai by Islamist militants who killed 166 people in November 2008.  Aritonang said Bashir’s role included funding the Aceh camp training and assigning key people to run the operation. 

He said police were hunting for the owner of the car found at the bomb lab, where “the bomb seized was tested and found to cause a major explosion”. “We’re working in coordination with NCB-Interpol to find out who is the man and what role he was playing in supporting these activities as he provided the car used to hit the targets,” he said. 

Counter-terrorism chief at the security ministry, Ansyaad Mbai, said the Aceh group “is linked with Jemaah Islamiyah and many other extremist groups in our country”. Australia hailed Ba'asyir’s arrest but reserved its comments until a detailed announcement by Indonesia. 

The International Crisis Group think-tank said last month that Ba'asyir had returned to the police radar in May, when officers raided the headquarters of his Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT) group in Jakarta and arrested three followers.  JI, an Al Qaeda-inspired group whose mission is to create a Muslim caliphate across Southeast Asia, is blamed for multiple terror attacks across Indonesia, including the Bali bombings.

Ba'asyir was jailed by the Suharto regime from 1978 to 1982 for inciting people to reject the secular national ideology in favour of an Islamic state.  He founded JAT in 2008 as a legitimate — although radical — body with which to continue agitating for Islamic law and militant jihad.

The United States said last month it would resume ties with Indonesian special forces after a 12-year hiatus, as part of efforts by Washington to reach out to the world’s largest Muslim nation.