Hunting for the heirs of Noordin Top, al-Qaeda’s top operative in South-East Asia
Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The death of Noordin Mohammad Top, head of al-Qaeda in South-East Asia, does not mean the end of terrorism in Indonesia. Even his death last Wednesday, after a hunt that lasted nine years and many premature announcements of his capture captured, does not close the chapter on a man wanted by many police forces.
Following the action in Mojosongo, a suburb of the city of Surakarta in Central Java, which led to Top’s death and that of four of his associates, police found the “testament” of the terrorist cell that read, “our loyal members are surely going to continue this jihad mission”.
The list of Top’s possible successors is long. They include Syaifuddin Jaelani who recruited 17-year-old Dani Dwi Permana, the suicide bomber who attacked the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta on 17 August; Mohammad Syahrir, AKA Aing and Jaelani’s brother; and Bahrudin Latif, AKA Baridin, Top’s father-in-law, considered one of the most important al-Qaeda leaders in South-East Asia.
From the operation that led to Top’s death, the police collected a lot of fresh intelligence on the terrorist network operating in Indonesia.
Adib, AKA Budi Susilo, one of the five extremists killed, worked as a gardener at a pesantren, an Islamic college which he had previously attended.
This confirms investigators’ suspicions that emerged when Top and his father-in-law were spotted at the pesantren of Cilacap, namely that the terrorists could count on the assistance of a number of Islamic institutions across the country.
At present though, law enforcement agencies are focusing on connections between Top’s group and foreign organisations.
Four days after the death of Indonesia’s most wanted man, the alert level in the Indonesian capital remains high, especially after police found more than 200 kilograms of bomb material, bullets and M-16 rifles in Mojosongo, which suggest that terrorists were planning to carry out more attacks.
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