Friday, February 24, 2012

US adds Indonesian group, 3 leaders to terrorism list

JAKARTA, INDONESIA - JUNE 16: A supporter of M...
A supporter of Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir wears a jacket with a portrait of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as they gather after Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir's hearing verdict at the South Jakarta District Court on June 16, 2011 in Jakarta, Indonesia. --- --- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
from Bill Roggio - February 23., 2012. - LWJ

The US government has added an Indonesian group and three of its leaders who are responsible for attacks in the country to the list of terrorist organizations and individuals.

Today the State Department added the Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT), or the Partisans of the Oneness of God, to the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorist entities. The Treasury Department added Mochammad Achwan, the terror group's emir; Son Hadi bin Muhadjir, its spokesman; and Abdul Rosyid Ridho Ba'asyir, a JAT leader involved in recruiting members and financing operations, to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

"JAT is responsible for multiple coordinated attacks against innocent civilians, police, and military personnel in Indonesia," the State Department said in its designation of the terror group. "JAT seeks to establish an Islamic caliphate in Indonesia, and has carried out numerous attacks on Indonesian Government personnel and civilians in order to achieve this goal," the State designation continued.

Among the attacks carried out by JAT are the Sept. 25, 2011 suicide bombing at a church in Central Java that wounded dozens of worshipers, and a suicide attack at a mosque in West Java on April 15, 2011 that wounded 28 policemen.

The US government said that JAT was founded in 2008 by Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader and cofounder of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al Qaeda affiliate in Southeast Asia that has been behind numerous terror attacks in Indonesia. Bashir was arrested by Indonesian police in August 2010 on terrorism charges. In June 2011, a court found Bashir guilty of "committing a criminal act of terrorism" by founding and supporting a terrorist group known as al Qaeda in Aceh. One year later, he was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
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