Ba'asyir's Links to Islamic Militant Training Camps

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Indonesia’s anti-terror police unit Detachment 88 detained firebrand radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir on Monday on Java island, because of links to Islamic militant training camps, a government official said.

Ansyaad Mbai, the head of the government’s anti-terror desk, told Reuters that police had strong evidence Ba'asyir was connected to training camps in Indonesia’s westernmost Aceh province that had planned attacks against the president.

Ba'asyir is the leader of hardline Islamist group Jema’ah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT) and was a founder of the al-Mukmin boarding school at Ngruki in Solo that produced several graduates who went on to plan and execute a string of deadly attacks in Indonesia.

Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in a report last month that some members of JAT were involved in violent plots foiled by police. Indonesia was hit by deadly bomb attacks on hotels in the capital Jakarta last year.

Attacks by militants remain a risk for the country, though investors have not been deterred from pouring money into its bonds and stock market.