[Kabar-indonesia] Hambali No Longer Useful: Juwono [+JI Leader in Philippines Will Fight 'To End']

[Joyo at aol.com]

6 Reports:

- Indonesian defence minister says Hambali 
  no longer 'useful'

- JI leader hiding in Philippines will fight until 
  the end: wife

- Philippine troops clash with Muslim militants, 
  6 soldiers wounded

- Manila steps up fight after militant's wife nabbed

- Sayyaf, JI bomb materials meant for "big targets:" 
  US official

- Philippines to deport wife of Indonesian 
  terror suspect after military probe

Indonesian defence minister says Hambali no longer 'useful'

JAKARTA, October 9 (AFP) -- Indonesia's defence minister said Monday
that a suspected Al-Qaeda member and Indonesian citizen held in
Guantanamo Bay whom they have long sought access to was "no longer
useful".

Hambali, who is thought to have once been a leading figure in the
Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) Islamic extremist group, was captured in
Thailand in 2003 and handed over to US authorities.

Indonesia has complained about being refused direct access to him and
most recently requested it again during a visit to the United States
by vice president Yusuf Kalla last month.

But asked whether Indonesia would continue to push the issue, defence
minister Juwono Sudarsono said he believed that detainees such as
Hambali kept by the US no longer had any relevant information to hand
over.

"I personally believe that they are no longer useful... because once
they have been worked up by them (the United States) they are no
longer useful. I think information from them has become stale," he
told reporters.

He also took a swipe at the US for its habit of whisking Southeast
Asian terror suspects elsewhere in the world for interrogation after
their capture.

"It is better for the terrorism issue in Southeast Asia to be handled
in the country concerned, because by doing so the legality of that
action will be better accepted by the public than having it done by
America, or Australia," he said.

Analysts have also said that any information Hambali could have
provided about potential attacks in Indonesia would by now be too
outdated to be of any practical use.

JI has been blamed for a string of attacks, including the 2002 Bali
bombing which left 202 people dead.

------------------------------------------------------------------

JI leader hiding in Philippines will fight until the end: wife

MANILA, October 9 (AFP) -- One of Southeast Asia's most wanted
terrorists will fight to the death in the southern Philippines, where
he and another foreign militant are on the run, his wife said Monday.

Dulmatin "will fight it out till the last," Justice Secretary Raul
Gonzales said, quoting the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leader's wife,
Istiada Oemar H. Sovie.

Dulmatin and fellow fugitive Umar Patek are wanted for their part in
the 2002 bombing on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed
over 200 people, mostly Australian tourists.

"I told her, you came here to seek refuge in the Philippines because
you are being hunted in Indonesia, why are you fighting us? She said
'because JI is fighting those who stand by America,'" Gonzales said.

"She told me straight that her husband will not surrender," he said in
a local television interview.

Sovie, an Indonesian, was arrested by troops last week in the troubled
southern island of Jolo, where Dulmatin and Patek are allegedly being
protected by the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militant group.

Gonzales said Sovie had admitted to being a JI member herself, but
would be deported to Indonesia in the near future because the
Philippines had no anti-terrorism law.

"I'm giving the military three weeks to finish its interrogation,"
Gonzales told reporters when asked when Sovie would be sent back to
Indonesia.

He said the intelligence community could still gather "valuable
information" from Sovie that could lead to the arrest of the two men.

However, "the fact that she is the wife (of a JI leader) does not
necessarily make her guilty of the crime of terrorism," Gonzales said.

Gonzales said he had been in touch with Indonesian diplomats, who
would also visit Sovie.

Dulmatin and Patek, who have bounties totalling 11 million dollars on
their heads offered by the US government, are subject to a manhunt
involving 5,000 Filipino troops backed by US intelligence personnel.

The Philippines was one of the first Asian nations to declare support
for the US-led "war on terror" after the September 11 attacks and the
United States has been providing training and assistance in hunting
down Abu Sayyaf militants in this country.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Philippine troops clash with Muslim militants, 6 soldiers wounded

ZAMBOANGA, October 9 (AP) - Philippine troops caught up with a large
number of al-Qaida-linked militants in the jungles of southern Jolo
island, sparking a gunbattle that wounded six soldiers and an
undetermined number of guerrillas, the military said Monday.

The clash, the latest flare-up in a U.S.-backed offensive that began
Aug. 1, erupted late Sunday on Mount Tunggol in Jolo's mountainous
Patikul town, where the troops have been hunting fleeing Abu Sayyaf
guerrillas and Indonesian militants, the military's Western Mindanao
Command said.

The troops on Friday found empty boxes of mortar rounds and assault
rifle ammunition, empty gauze pad boxes and used disposable syringes
in an abandoned rebel encampment in Patikul's jungles, indicating the
militants have been incurring battle casualties, regional military
spokesman Maj. Eugenio Batara said.

About 6,000 marines and troops have been waging the offensive against
the militants, particularly Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khaddafy Janjalani
and Indonesian militants Dulmatin and Umar Patek, who are suspected
plotters of the 2002 nightclub bombings in Bali, Indonesia, that
killed 202 people.

At least 16 soldiers and 10 militants have been killed in the
offensive in sporadic gunbattles in Jolo, about 940 kilometers (580
miles) south of Manila.

The Abu Sayyaf is a small but brutal group that has been blamed for
high-profile ransom kidnappings, deadly bomb attacks and beheadings.
It is on a U.S. list of terrorist groups.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Manila steps up fight after militant's wife nabbed

MANILA, October 9 (Reuters) - Philippine troops intensified an
offensive against suspected Muslim rebels on the remote southwestern
island of Jolo after interrogating the wife of an Indonesian militant
believed to be sheltering with them.

At least six army commandos were wounded and an undetermined number of
rebels were either killed or wounded in a firefight lasting around an
hour in the mountains near Patikul town on Sunday night, a military
spokesman said.

"It was a ferocious battle," Major Eugenio Batara told reporters on
Monday. "We believed the rebels suffered terrible losses based on
communications intercepts."

Batara said the government was stepping up operations around Patikul
after the wife of Dulmatin, a militant suspected of involvement in the
deadly 2002 Bali bombings, was arrested in the area last week.

Since Aug. 1, about 6,000 troops have been fighting several hundred
rebels in the latest push to flush out the Abu Sayyaf, the Philippines
most violent Islamic rebel group, from Jolo.

Abu Sayyaf is believed to be sheltering Dulmatin along with fellow
Bali suspect Umar Patek. Both men are members of Jemaah Islamiah (JI),
a regional terror network that seeks an Islamic superstate in parts of
southeast Asia.

"We learned that there could be three more Indonesians in the group
based on initial interviews with Dulmatin's wife," Batara said.

He said the woman also revealed that the Indonesians had been helped
by rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is
holding peace talks with Manila about the creation of a homeland for
Muslims in the south of the mainly Catholic country.

The woman, who Batara said was called Istidia, said some MILF members
were offering them safe places to stay when the military launched
offensives. In return, the Indonesians helped train local rebels in
handling explosives.

Eid Kabalu, a spokesman for the MILF, denied any formal links between
his group and militants from Indonesia, saying the largest Muslim
rebel group in the south has denounced terrorism to pursue its goal of
an ancestral homeland.

"There could be some MILF members who have personal ties with the
Indonesians, but our leadership has ordered us to cut links or face
sanctions," he said.

On Monday, Istidia, also known as Oemar Sovie, was brought to the
capital Manila for formal investigation while facing charges of
violating Philippine immigration laws.

--------------------------------------------------------------

BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
Octoiber 9, 2006
Source: The Philippine Star website,
Manila, in English 9 Oct 06

Philippines: Sayyaf, JI bomb materials meant for "big targets" - US official

Zamboanga City: A US military official involved in the training of
Filipino troops here warned the people yesterday that the Abu Sayyaf
and the Indonesian terrorists could be planning bomb attacks on "big
targets" outside Sulu.

The US military official, who refused to be identified, said the
improvised explosive devices (IEDs) recently recovered by government
troops that overran an Abu Sayyaf camp in Indanan, Sulu are not
ordinary bombs based on the kind of explosive materials and detonators
found.

Marines and army troops discovered the training and bomb-making
facility of the Abu Sayyaf and the Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah
(JI) shortly after the military offensive called "Oplan Ultimatum" was
launched against the terrorists in Indanan on 1 August.

The Abu Sayyaf camp is being used as a training facility by Jemaah
Islamiyah bomb experts Dulmatin, who uses only one name and Umar
Patek, both wanted for the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia where 202
people died.

Government troops also recovered a huge cache of bombs, explosive
materials and homemade wiring to build detonating devices.

Succeeding military operations in Patikul, also in Sulu, on 4
September resulted in the recovery of JI documents contained in
compact discs and video compact discs that showed footage of
terrorists conducting suicide bombings, including scenes from the 11
September 2001 terrorist attacks in the US.

The US military source said the IEDs recovered in Sulu were patterned
after explosive devices used in Afghanistan and Bali in Indonesia.

"And the targets are much bigger, maybe not in Sulu island," he said.

He said the Indonesian terrorists have transferred their technology to
local guerrillas, particularly the knowledge to build IEDs that can be
detonated by cellular telephones.

The US military in Sulu only advises and provides intelligence
information to Filipino troops conducting operations against the Abu
Sayyaf group led by Khadaffy Janjalani that is coddling Dulmatin and
Patek.

Dulmatin's wife Istiada Oemar Sovie, alias Amenah Tohe, and her two
sons were captured by government troops in Patikul, Sulu on 3 October.

Sovie confirmed that Dulmatin and Patek are in Sulu and that the
Indonesians are in the Philippines because the country is a "prime
target" for bomb attacks for supporting the US war on terror after the
11 September attacks in the US.

Dulmatin's wife said that the Indonesians who have been in the country
since 2003, and the Abu Sayyaf will not surrender and will continue
fighting government troops until death.

At least 5,000 Marines and army soldiers backed by navy and air force
units are conducting the pursuit operations in Sulu.

--------------------------------------------------------------

BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
October 9, 2006
Source: The Philippine Star website,
Manila, in English 9 Oct 06

Philippines to deport wife of Indonesian terror suspect after military probe

The wife and two sons of an Indonesian terrorist hiding in Sulu will
be turned over to the Indonesian government once military authorities
are finished investigating the woman's alleged involvement in
terrorist activities in the Philippines, Malacanang said yesterday.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the government has been
coordinating with Indonesian authorities on the investigation of
Istiada Oemar Sovie, wife of Indonesian bomb expert Dulmatin, who
together with fellow Indonesian Umar Patek is wanted for the Bali
bombings that killed 202 people in October 2002.

Dulmatin, who uses only one name, and Patek, both members of the
Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), are being
protected by Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadafi Janjalani and are hiding in
Sulu.

"She (Sovie) is an Indonesian and her husband is a suspect in the Bali
bombing in Indonesia so most likely they (Indonesian government) will
have priority over her," Ermita said.

He said the administration will wait until her tactical interrogation
is over before turning her over to Indonesia.

Ermita, who also chairs Malacanang's Anti-Terrorism Task Force, issued
the statement after Sovie reportedly signed a waiver to remain in the
custody of the armed forces to avoid deportation for fear of reprisals
for the terror attacks attributed to the JI.

Military officials said Sovie feels safer in the custody of Philippine
authorities. She and her two sons Edar, and Alih, were arrested on 3
October in Patikul, Sulu and are now detained at the headquarters of
the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines at
Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

Sovie acted as courier of the guerrillas and provided supplies to
Dulmatin and other JI members, who have been under the protection of
Janjalani in Sulu.

The United States government has offered a 10m-dollar reward for the
capture of Dulmatin, 5m dollars for Janjalani and 1m dollars for
Patek.

The military said Sovie and her sons will remain in military custody
and will not be turned over to the Bureau of Immigration to face
deportation proceedings.

Sources said she signed a waiver allowing her continued detention by
the armed forces.

Military officials said Sovie and her sons are being held for
violation of immigration laws but she is also under investigation for
possible involvement in terrorist attacks.

Lt-Col Bartolome Bacarro, Armed Forces Public Information Office
chief, said government troops conducted the raid at Sovie's house in
Barangay Sandah in Patikul after acting Immigration Commissioner Roy
Almoro issued a deportation order against her following reports that
Indonesian terrorists and their wives are hiding in Patikul.

The source said Sovie apparently refused to return to Indonesia where
her family will be in danger because of possible reprisal for the Bali
bombings.

Sovie said she arrived with Dulmatin in Sulu in 2003 and they later
linked up with Patek and the group of Janjalani.

Sovie reportedly confessed that Dulmatin and Patek went to the
Philippines because the country is a "prime target" for attacks by JI
because Manila was among the first US allies to support the American
war on terror following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US.

She also claimed that her husband, Patek and Janjalani are still
hiding in the jungles of Patikul, Sulu, after the military launched
Oplan Ultimatum last 1 August to track down Janjalani and the
Indonesian bomb experts.

------------------------------------------
Joyo Indonesia News Service
------------------------------------------