Source/Credit: Bangkok Post | Online news: Asia
By BP/ACG | April 19, 2011
A suicide attack at a mosque in an Indonesian police station last week fits a pattern of "individual jihad" aimed at local targets by small groups of extremists, a think-tank said Tuesday.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) said a trend was emerging that favoured targeted killings over indiscriminate bombings, local over foreign targets and individual or small group action over more hierarchical organisations.
In a new report entitled "Indonesian Jihadism: Small Groups, Big Plans", the Brussels-based ICG said the two approaches were complementary.
Larger jihadi organisations have the networks and funds to support religious outreach by radicals espousing extremist principles through the media and religious study sessions, the report said.
Groups like regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and hardline Islamic group Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT) are placing greater focus on local "enemies" seen as "oppressors", including the police, Christians and the minority Islamic sect Ahmadiyah.
ICG senior advisor Sidney Jones said the emergence of small groups undertaking jihad on their own highlighted the urgent need for prevention programmes "which are virtually non-existent in Indonesia".
"The critical task is to identify vulnerable communities, starting with areas that have produced extremist groups in the recent past, and think through possible programmes that might strengthen community resistance to extremist teaching," she added.
Local resident Mohammed Syarif, 32, detonated explosives strapped to his body at a mosque inside a police station in Cirebon, West Java province, on Friday as worshippers began their prayers, killing himself instantly and injuring 30 others.
Police are still investigating his motives and links with terror groups.
The attack was the first suicide bombing inside a mosque in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation of 240 million people.
Last month, bombs hidden in a hollowed-out books were sent to several addresses including those of liberal Muslim figures and a counter-terrorism official, but no one was killed.
Indonesia has been rocked by a series of bombings staged by JI in recent years, including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people.
Read original post here: Indonesia attack shows 'individual jihad' trend: ICG
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