Jemaah Islamiyah

History

JI has its roots in Darul Islam (DI, meaning "House of Islam"), a radical Islamist/anti-colonialist movement in Indonesia in the 1940s.

Bashir and Sungkar were both imprisoned by the New Order administration of Indonesian president Suharto as part of a crackdown on radical groups such as Komando Jihad, that were perceived to undermine the government's control over the Indonesian population. The two leaders spent several years in prison. After release, Bashir and his followers moved to Malaysia in 1982. They recruited people from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. The group officially named itself Jemaah Islamiyah around that time period.

JI was formally founded on 1 January 1993, by JI leaders, Abu Bakar Bashir and Abdullah Sungkar while hiding in Malaysia from the persecution of the Suharto government. After the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998, both men returned to Indonesia where JI gained a terrorist edge when one of its founders, the late Abdullah Sungkar, established contact with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.

JI's violent operations began during the communal conflicts in Maluku and Poso. It shifted its attention to targeting U.S. and Western interests in Indonesia and the wider Southeast Asian region since the start of the U.S.-led war on terror. JI's terror plans in Southeast Asia were exposed when its plot to set off several bombs in Singapore was foiled by the local authorities.

In 2004, Abu Bakar Bashir created the Indonesian Mujahedeen Council to connect Islamist groups, including JI, in Indonesia.

Recruiting, training, indoctrination, financial, and operational links between the JI and other militant groups, such as Al-Qaeda, the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), the Misuari Renegade/Breakaway Group (MRG/MBG) and the Philippine Rajah Sulaiman movement (RSM) have existed for many years.

Bashir became the spiritual leader of the group while Hambali became the military leader. Unlike the Al-Mau'nah group, Jemaah Islamiyah kept a low profile in Malaysia and their existence was publicized only after the 2002 Bali bombings. It is suspected by some to be linked to Al-Qaeda or the Taliban.

Designation as a terrorist group

Jemaah Islamiyah has been designated a terrorist group by the following countries and international organizations:

• Argentina
• Australia
• Bahrain
• Canada
• European Union
• Japan
• Malaysia
• New Zealand
• United Kingdom
• United Nations
• United States

2002 Bali bombings

Prior to the first Bali bombings on 12 October 2002, there was underestimation to the threat Jemaah Islamiyah posed. After this attack, the U.S. State Department designated Jemaah Islamiyah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Other terrorist attacks

In 2003, Indonesian police confirmed the existence of "Mantiqe-IV", the JI regional cell which covered Irian Jaya and Australia. Indonesian police said Muklas has identified Mantiqe IV's leader as Abdul Rahim—an Indonesian-born Australian. Jemaah Islamiyah is also strongly suspected of carrying out the 2003 JW Marriott hotel bombing, the 2004 Australian embassy bombing, the 2005 Bali bombings and the 2009 JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotel bombings. The Bali and JW Marriott attacks showed that JI did not rule out attacking the same target more than once. The JI also has been directly and indirectly involved in dozens of bombings in the southern Philippines, usually in league with the ASG.

However, most of Jemaah Islamiyah prominent figures such as Hambali, Abu Dujana, Zarkasih, Noordin M. Top and Dulmatin have either been captured or killed, mostly by Indonesian anti-terrorist squad, Detachment 88. While several of its former leaders, including Malaysian Islamic extremist and Afghanistan War veteran Nasir Abbas, have renounced violence and even assisted the Indonesian and Malaysian governments in the war on terrorism. Nasir Abbas was Noordin Top's former trainer.

Indonesian investigators revealed the JI's establishment of a hit squad in April 2007, which was established to target top leaders who oppose the group's objectives, as well as other officials, including police officers, government prosecutors and judges handling terrorism-related cases.

In April 2008, the South Jakarta District Court declared JI an illegal organisation when sentencing former leader Zarkasih and military commander Abu Dujana to 15 years on terrorism charges.

In 2010, Indonesian authorities cracked down on the Jemaah Islamiyah network in Aceh. Between February and May 2010, more than 60 militants were captured. This Aceh network was established by Dulmatin sometime after 2007 when he returned to Indonesia.

Naming

The name Jemaah Islamiyah roughly translates to "Islamic Community" in English and is abbreviated as "JI". To counter the recruitment efforts by the group, Islamic scholars in Indonesia and the Philippines who are critical of the group suggested it be called Jemaah Munafiq (JM) instead, translated as "Hypocrites' Community".

Timeline

2000s

• 12 March 2000, 3 JI members were arrested in Manila carrying plastic explosives in their luggage. One of them is later jailed for 17 years.
• 1 August 2000, Jemaah Islamiyah attempted to assassinate the Philippine ambassador to Indonesia, Leonides Caday. The bomb detonated as his car entered his official residence in central Jakarta killing two people and injuring 21 others, including the ambassador.
• 13 September 2000, a car bomb explosion tore through a packed parking deck beneath the Jakarta Stock Exchange building killing 15 people and injuring 20.
• 24 December 2000, JI took part in a major coordinated bombings of churches in Jakarta and eight other cities in Indonesia.
• 30 December 2000, a series of bombings that occurred around Metro Manila in the Philippines, 22 died and over a hundred were injured. In the following years, several members of the Jemaah Islamiyah for their suspected involvement in the bombings.
• 8 December 2001, a raid by Singaporean authorities successfully foil a plot by JI to bomb several foreign embassies in Singapore. The plot also revealed several bombing locations, which included the water pipeline between Malaysia and Singapore, and also an MRT station, where Americans frequently traveled.
• 5 June 2002, Indonesian authorities arrest Kuwaiti Omar al-Faruq. Handed over to the U.S. authorities, he subsequently confesses he is a senior al-Qaeda operative sent to Southeast Asia to orchestrate attacks against U.S. interests. He reveals to investigators detailed plans of a new terror spree in Southeast Asia.
• After many warnings by U.S. authorities of a credible terrorist threat in Jakarta, on 23 September 2002, a grenade explodes in a car near the residence of a U.S. embassy official in Jakarta, killing one of the attackers.
• 26 September 2002, the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning urging Americans and other Westerners in Indonesia to avoid locations such as bars, restaurants and tourist areas.
• 2 October 2002, a U.S. Soldier and two Filipinos are killed in a JI nail-bomb attack outside a bar in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga.
• 10 October 2002, a bomb rips through a bus terminal in the southern Philippine city of Kidapawan, killing six people and injuring twenty-four. On the same day, the U.S. ambassador in Jakarta, Ralph Boyce, personally delivers to the Indonesian President a message of growing concern that Americans could become targets of terrorist actions in her country.
• 12 October 2002, on the second anniversary of the USS Cole bombing in Yemen, a huge car bomb kills more than 202 and injures 300 on the Indonesian resort island of Bali. Most are foreigners, mainly Australian tourists. It is preceded by a blast at the U.S. consulate in nearby Denpasar. The attack known as the 2002 Bali bombings is the most deadly attack executed by JI to date.
• Bashir was arrested by the Indonesian police and was given a light sentence for treason.
• Hambali was arrested in Thailand on 11 August 2003, and is currently detained and awaiting trial by Military Commissions, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
• Jemaah Islamiyah is believed to have assisted local Moro Islamic Liberation Front members in carrying out the 2003 Davao City airport bombing and the 2003 Davao City ferry terminal bombing in the Philippines, which resulted in the deaths of 39 civilians and nearly 200 people being injured. A suspected MILF member later told authorities a senior JI leader named Zulkifli Abdhir had directed both attacks.
• A bomb manual published by the Jemaah Islamiyah was used in the 2002 Bali bombings, the 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing, the Philippine consulate bombing in Jakarta, the Jakarta Stock Exchange bombing and the Christmas Eve bombings.
• A British-born Australian named Jack Roche confessed to being part of a JI plot to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra, Australia on 28 May 2004. He was sentenced to 9 years in prison on 31 May. The man admitted to meeting figures like Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
• JI are widely suspected of being responsible for the bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta on 9 September 2004, which killed 11 Indonesians and wounded over 100 more.
• They are also suspected of committing 1 October, 2005 Bali bombings.
• 9 November 2005, bomb-making expert and influential figure in Indonesian terrorist organization, Azahari Husin was killed in a raid at Batu, East Java.
• 5 August 2006, Al-Qaeda's Al Zawahiri appeared on a recorded video announcing that JI and Al-Qaeda had joined forces and that the two groups will form "one line, facing its enemies".
• 13 June 2007, Abu Dujana, the head of JI's military operations, is captured by Indonesian police.
• 15 June 2007, Indonesian police announced the capture of Zarkasih, who was leading Jemaah Islamiyah since the capture of Hambali. Zarkasih is believed to be the emir of JI.
• 27 February 2008, the leader of JI in Singapore, Mas Selamat bin Kastari, escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre.
• 1 April 2009, Mas Selamat bin Kastari was recaptured in a raid by Pasukan Gerakan Khas and Special Branch in Johor, Malaysia.
• 17 July 2009, Jemaah Islamiyah was blamed for attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta.
• 17 September 2009, Noordin Mohammad Top was killed in a raid by Indonesian police in Surakarta, Central Java. Noordin was a recruiter, bomb maker, and explosions expert for Jemaah Islamiyah. Although Noordin was connected to Jemaah Islamiyah, in 2006 Indonesian police reported that he and Azahari Husin had split from the organisation to form "an even more hardline group" which reportedly bore the name "Al-Qaeda Jihad Organisation for the Malay Archipelago". Until his death, Noordin was the most wanted Islamist militant in Indonesia.

2010s

• 9 March 2010, Dulmatin was killed in a raid by Detachment 88 in Pamulang, South Tangerang
• 13 December 2010, Indonesian police charged Abu Bakar Bashir, spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah, with involvement in plans of terror and military training in Aceh province. The charge against him of inciting others to commit terrorism carries the death penalty.
• January 2012, the Philippine military announced that it had killed two key leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah, a Malaysian called Zulkifli bin Hir (aka Marwan) and Mohammad Ali (aka Muawiyah). Senior intelligence sources later stated that Hir and Ali survived the air strike. Reports of Bin Hir's death were again retracted in 2014.
• 14 December 2012: A Malaysian member of Jemaah Islamiyah, who is subsequently identified as Mohammad Noor Fikrie bin Abdul Kahar from Kedah, is shot dead by a S.W.A.T team sniper outside the Apo View Hotel in Poblacion District of Davao City, after he had threatened to detonate an I.E.D. made from a 60-millimeter mortar round when confronted by Philippine police.
• 26 February 2014, Sheikh Kahar Mundos, a bomb maker, left a bomb in a motorcycle hidden at the city hall in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines.
• 27 June 2014, Abdul Basit Usman, a bomb maker who was falsely reported as killed in a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan in 2010, is revealed to be alive and a potential terror threat.
• 16 September 2014, Jemaah Islamiyah claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Rizal Monument in front of the city hall of General Santos, Philippines, killing one person and injuring 7.
• 25 January 2015, JI member Zulkifli Abdhir was killed in the Philippines, an operation that also resulted in the death of 44 police officers.
• 1 July 2019, Indonesian police arrested Para Wijayanto, who was said to have been the leader of Jemaah Islamiyah since 2007.
• 2 July 2019, after the arrest of leader Para Wijayanto, Densus 88 counterterrorism unit of Indonesia traced palm oil plantations as a source of funding for the group, according to National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo.

2020s

• 23 November 2020, Indonesian Police arrested Upik Lawanga, who has been involved in the 2002 Bali bombings. His role involves constructing bombs to be used in several terror attacks.
• 10 December 2020, Indonesian Police arrested Zulkarnaen, a high-ranking Jemaah Islamiyah official and leader. He is said to have been the mastermind of several terror attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings, Christmas Eve 2000 Indonesia bombings, and 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing.
• 17 May 2024, a Royal Malaysian Police station at Ulu Tiram, Johor was attacked by a man that was linked with Jemaah Islamiyah, killing two police officers and wounding one. The suspect was shot dead by another police officer during the attack. Police investigations revealed that the suspect, who has no criminal record, made preparations to confront the police – based on items found in his bag which he used as a shield. There were zinc sheets and paper inside. After the attack, the police launched a raid on the suspect's house and arrested his family members that were linked with the group, including his father.

Dissolution

On 30 June 2024, key members of the terror group Jemaah Islamiyah in Indonesia dissolved the organization in a video declaration made at the National Counter Terrorism Agency in Bogor, near Jakarta. Abu Rusdan, a militant cleric and former JI leader arrested in Bekasi in September 2021, said that JI's senior council and the leaders of the group's affiliated Islamic boarding schools “have agreed to declare the dissolution of the JI and return to Indonesia's embrace”. Abu Rusdan made the statement alongside other key figures, including Para Wijayanto, one of the most wanted terrorists in Southeast Asia who was arrested in 2019 for recruiting militants and raising funds for Syria.{{cite web |access-date=4 July 2024}}{{cite web |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3269156/jemaah-islamiah-militant-group-behind-2002-bali-bombings-be-disbanded |title=Jemaah Islamiah militant group behind 2002 Bali bombings be disbanded |access-date=4 July 2024}}{{cite web |access-date=4 July 2024}}{{Cite web |title=Is this the end of Jemaah Islamiyah? IPAC |access-date=2024-07-04 |website=understandingconflict.org}}

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