WGNNews.org
Posted 12:20 P.M. : January 30, 2003
Muslim cleric linked to Bali bombing
Indonesian
police have made the strongest link so far between
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the suspected
spiritual leader of regional militant group
Jemaah Islamiah (JI), and the Bali
bomb attacks in October
The Muslim
cleric is also due to stand trial later this year for his
alleged involvement in a series of church bombings across
Indonesia on Christmas Eve 2000
Last week
detectives said they wanted him to face charges of treason, for
an alleged plot to kill Megawati Sukarnoputri when she was still
the country's vice president
General Da'i
Bachtiar told Indonesia's parliament on Tuesday that JI leaders
had decided to attack the holiday island as part of a plan to
hit US interests in Indonesia and Singapore
The decision
to target US operations was made at a meeting in Bangkok last
February, Mr Bachtiar said
The US and
other governments have linked JI with Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda
network
Jemaah Islamiah
The Muslim
militant group Jemaah Islamiah, which some foreign governments
suspect played a part in the deadly bombing of a Bali nightclub,
is one of several radical groups in Indonesia.
SE
Asia's ' MasterMind Bomber '
Hambali is
believed to be the operations mastermind of the shadowy group,
Jemaah Islamiah (JI), which several governments have also named
as suspects in the 12 October Bali bombing, which killed more
than 180 people
Profile: Abu Bakar Ba'asyir
Abu Bakar
Ba'asyir does not cut the terrifying figure expected of a man
accused of being a leading figure in the murky world of
international terrorism
Yet the
Indonesian cleric calls Osama Bin Laden a
"true Islamic warrior" and has described the United States as a
terrorist country
Mr Ba'asyir
denies links with Bin Laden or with terrorism. He teaches at an
Islamic school in Solo, central Java and describes himself as a
simple preacher
The group Mr
Ba'asyir is said to lead - Jemaah Islamiah - is thought to want
to set up an Islamic state to cover
Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the southern Philippines
island of Mindanao
Mr Ba'asyir has spent decades
teaching Islam. His consistent theme has been that Islamic
communities are the necessary pre-condition for setting up an
Islamic state.
He is also fervently anti-Jewish
