New report suggests leadership crisis in terror group
A new report by an international conflict research group sheds new light on the shadowy Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah and divulges for the first time suspicion of rifts among leaders of the group.
The Brussels-based International Crisis Group, a non-profit organisation, claimed that its analyses into JI revealed that a leadership crisis has emerged within the group thereby complicating the counter-terrorism effort in the region.
"A deep rift has emerged between Abu Bakar Bashir, the formal head of JI who is under arrest in a Jakarta hospital, and the younger JI leaders, mostly based in Malaysia, who find him insufficiently radical.
"While Bashir undoubtedly knows far more than he is willing to divulge about JI operations, he is unlikely to have been the mastermind of JI attacks, including the Bali bombings," said the Brussels-based ICG in a media release on the report.
In the aftermath of the Oct 12 Bali attack, Indonesian authorities arrested Abu Bakar on suspicion of involvement in a string of deadly bomb attacks in Indonesia and the Philippines. However, he has consistently denied any knowledge or involvement in the bombings.
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