Bomber's death crushes Indonesia militants

Indonesia's counter-terrorism unit, Detachment 88, has launched raids across the archipelago following the discovery of a militant Islamist training camp in Aceh last month.

Books on jihad, rifles and military uniforms were found during the raids in which 21 suspected members of the group were detained in Aceh and Java.

Aceh's governor, Irwandi Yusuf, was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying on Tuesday the group planned to set up a Southeast Asian jihadist network in the Sumatran province.

Analysts said Dulmatin had the capability to succeed Noordin Mohammad Top, a Malaysian-born militant and bomb maker killed by police last year during a raid in central Java.

Top, who set up a violent splinter group of Jemaah Islamiah, masterminded a series of bombings including suicide attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta last July.

Sidney Jones, an expert at the International Crisis Group, said the new group was also a splinter of Jemaah Islamiah, likely calling itself the Aceh branch of al Qaeda for Southeast Asia

Jones said that the militants were probably planning attacks but the recent arrests and deaths should have damaged their capacity to carry them out for now.

But the analyst said it was unclear if there were other Aceh-like cells and the re-emergence of Dulmatin in Indonesia showed the worrying extent of the international links Indonesia militants have forged.

“This means that there probably was far more coordination with the Philippines over the last five years than we had any appreciation of,” she said.

In the Philippines, Dulmatin was last thought to be operating with the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, along with another Indonesian wanted over the Bali bombings, Umar Patek.

Another security analyst, Dynno Chressbon, said Dulmatin's group was believed to have supplied about 27 weapons including M-16s and AK-47s to the group in Aceh.

National Police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said Dulmatin's group had secured 500 million rupiah to buy weapons and for military training, with more money available.

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