Indonesia’s elite counterterrorism squad has arrested a convicted militant and suspected leader of an al-Qaeda-linked group that has been blamed for a string of past bombings in the country, Indonesia police said Monday.

Abu Rusdan was seized late Friday in Bekasi near the capital of Jakarta, along with three other suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah, police spokesman Ahmad Ramadhan said.

“He is currently known to be active among the unlawful Jemaah Islamiyah network’s leadership,” Ramadhan told the Associated Press.

Indonesian authorities consider Rusdan to be a key figure in the Jemaah Islamiyah, which the U.S. has designated a terrorist group. The shadowy Southeast Asian network is widely blamed for attacks in the Philippines and Indonesia — including the 2002 bombings in the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

Ramadhan described the arrests as part of a broader nationwide crackdown on the group. Police are still searching for other suspected members, followed tips that the group was recruiting and training new members in Indonesia.

https://www.theasianaffairs.com/indonesia-arrests-key-leader-in-al-qaeda-linked-group/

Indonesia’s elite counterterrorism squad has arrested a convicted militant and suspected leader of an al-Qaeda-linked group that has been blamed for a string of past bombings in the country, Indonesia police said Monday.

Abu Rusdan was seized late Friday in Bekasi near the capital of Jakarta, along with three other suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah, police spokesman Ahmad Ramadhan said.

“He is currently known to be active among the unlawful Jemaah Islamiyah network’s leadership,” Ramadhan told the Associated Press.

Indonesian authorities consider Rusdan to be a key figure in the Jemaah Islamiyah, which the U.S. has designated a terrorist group. The shadowy Southeast Asian network is widely blamed for attacks in the Philippines and Indonesia — including the 2002 bombings in the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

Ramadhan described the arrests as part of a broader nationwide crackdown on the group. Police are still searching for other suspected members, followed tips that the group was recruiting and training new members in Indonesia.

https://www.theasianaffairs.com/indonesia-arrests-key-leader-in-al-qaeda-linked-group/