Jemaah Islamiya (JI)

JI operates throughout Southeast Asia. It has cells in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

JI seeks to establish a pan-Asian Islamic state in Southeast Asia to include Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines.

Exact numbers of JI operatives are unknown, but the group is believed to have several hundred members.

Western intelligence agencies say that JI has significant links with the Al-Qaida terrorist network. The group is believed to be largely self-financing. Reports also suggest that Jemaah Islamiya may be jointly training with Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines.

JI evolved from the Indonesian Darul Islam movement, an established group that promoted a Islamic state in Indonesia.

JI remains a shadowy group. It is part of a fluid federation of Southeast Asian terrorist organizations with extensive ties to one another. It has been described in some quarters as the Asian Al-Qaida.

The spiritual head of JI is widely understood to be Abu Bakar Bashir, an Indonesian cleric. Bashir was arrested a week after the October 2002 Bali bombings. In September 2003, he was sentenced to four years in jail for subversion, but was acquitted of being the leader of JI. He was released early, on June 14, 2006, after serving 25+ months in prison. His conviction connected to the Bali bombings was overturned in December 2006.

JI's operations chief was said to be Riduan bin Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, who was arrested in mid-August 2003 in Thailand. He is currently imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Central Intelligence Agency has dubbed Hambali "Asia's bin Laden" for his alleged involvement in several bombings in the region. Hambali has been accused of plotting the October 2002 bombings in Bali and the August 2003 bombing of a Marriott hotel in Jakarta. He has also been linked to suspects accused of attacking the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000.

Zarkasih, also known as Nuaim, Mbah, Abu Irsyad and other aliases, took over as operations chief after a "leadership vacuum" emerged in 2004. He led JI until he was arrested in Yogyakarta in July 2007. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit terrorist attacks, harboring fugitives and stockpiling illegal arms in April 2008.

The group's former military leader was 36-year-old Indonesian Abu Dujana. Dujana, who speaks Arabic and reportedly has good relations with Al-Qaida representatives, apparently assumed the reins of JI when former leader Abu Rusdan was arrested in 2003 for sheltering one of the Bali bombers. Dujana was subsequently arrested in June 2007 in Java, around the same time as Zarkasih. He was convicted of terrorist activity in April 2008 and sentenced to 15 years. Rusdan himself was released from prison in late 2005 and has apparently distanced himself from JI, although he has refused to condemn the Bali bombing.

While Indonesia's counter-terrorism activities have dealt significant blows to the group, Jemaah Islamiya remains a threat. JI has increased its social and propaganda presence in Indonesia through the establishment of an active publishing enterprise. JI is still a concern, especially in Singapore, the Philippines, and Malaysia.

In February 2008, the International Crisis Group (ICG) reported that group sympathizers had developed a publishing consortium around a school founded by JI leader Abu Bakar Bashir. The content of the books indicates a "lively internal debate" within JI over Al-Qaida tactics. Publishing is serving as a way of rebuilding the organization, according to the ICG. "JI has proven itself extraordinarily able to rebound from setbacks, and the networks underpinning it may help explain why," the report noted.

December 24: A series of bombings of churches throughout Indonesia killed 24 and wounded at least 100.

Aug 5. A car bomb exploded outside the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta, killing 14. The JI operations chief known as Hambali was linked to the attack.

Aug. 11: Hambali was arrested in a joint Thai-U.S. operation in central Thailand. Jakarta demanded that the U.S. hand over Hambali so that he could be tried in Indonesia. The U.S. agreed to allow Indonesian authorities to interrogate him.

Sept. 2: An Indonesian court sentenced militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir to four years in prison for treason, but acquitted him of being JI's leader.

Oct. 12: Philippine security forces killed alleged JI bomb-maker Fathur Roman Al-Ghozi in Cotabato province. Al-Ghozi had been a fugitive for three months after he escaped from Philippine police headquarters.

Sept. 9: A car bomb exploded outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing at least nine and wounding over 170 people. Authorities blamed JI, specifically singling out Malaysian nationals Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohammed Top as the alleged masterminds behind the attack.

Aug. 17: Jakarta reduced the sentence of Abu Bakar Bashir by four and one-half months from his original 30-month term.

Oct. 1: Three suicide bombers detonated explosives in a Bali shopping center and restaurant, killing at least 22 people and wounding 90. Jemaah Islamiya was blamed for the attack.

Oct. 6: The U.S. placed a $10 million bounty on the head of Dulmatin, alleged to be a senior JI member and bombmaking/electronics specialist.

Oct. 18: The U.S. said it would extradite Hambali to Indonesia at an unspecified time. Jakarta remained eager to directly interrogate and prosecute the terrorist leader.

Nov. 9: JI senior bomb-maker Azahari Husin died in Batu, East Java, during a raid by an Indonesian anti-terror squad. His colleague Noordin Mohammad Top was believed to have narrowly escaped.

February: Following the death of Husin, JI continued to decentralize, forming small splinter cells of young people recruited through Islamic study groups.

The cells, called "Thaifah Mansurah'' (Winning Team), operate independently, according to a confidential intelligence report cited by the Associated Press. These "Thaifah Mansurah [cells] are the main resource for JI when it is looking for suicide bombers," the report said.

April 14: The U.S. Treasury Dept. announced the blacklisting of four members of JI, freezing their funds. The men have "been trained, funded and directed by Al-Qaida to pursue a like-minded terrorist agenda," said a Treasury statement. Those singled out included: Abu Bakar Bashir, the jailed spiritual leader of the group; Gun Gun Rusman Gunawan, believed to be the younger brother of Hambali, the jailed operational leader in U.S. custody; Taufik Rifki, the group's ex-finance officer then held by Philippine authorities; and Abdullah Anshori, head of the Mantiq II branch of the group, and one of the most senior leaders still at large.

June: Indonesia released radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir from prison following a 30-month sentence. The spiritual leader and alleged founder of JI had been jailed for his part in a conspiracy for the Bali bombing in 2002 that killed 202 people.

August: The Phillipine military launched an offensive against Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah members in the Sulu region. Senior JI member Dulmatin, who is wanted by the U.S., was believed to be with the militants operating in this area.

October: The wife of senior JI member Dulmatin was arrested on the southern island of Jolo, apparently confirming his presence in the area.

December: The Indonesian Supreme Court overturned the conspiracy charges against Abu Bakir Bashir for which he had served 26 months. The court decided that he was not involved in the first Bali bombing or the Mariott hotel bombing.

April: Arrests by Indonesian authorities in Java indicated that JI had restructured and was planning new attacks.

May: JI has been increasing its membership in anticipation of upcoming attacks, said a report by the International Crisis Group. Alleged activities have included forming new hit squads under the leadership of Abu Dujana, the JI commander still at large.

June 12: Indonesian police captured Abu Dujana and several other JI members in Java. A special Indonesian counter-terrorism unit called Detachment 88 led the operation. Also arrested was Zarkasih, believed to be the de facto leader of JI after it was restructured. Senior JI leaders remaining at large at the time included Noordin Mohammed Top, a bomb mastermind, and Zulkarnaen, a former JI military wing commander.

October: The Philippine military reported that there were more JI operatives in Mindanao than previously believed -- including several JI leaders with large bounties on their heads, such as Dulmatin, Umar Patek and Zulkifli Bin Hir.

Dec. 12: Abu Dujana's trial began in Jakarta. Prosecutors entered several charges against him; he could face the death penalty for alleged involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings.  

April: Two Indonesian courts separately concluded that Jemaah Islamiyah was a terrorist organization, strengthening the government's hand in combating the organization. In one proceeding, JI leader Abu Dujana was given a prison term for conspiring to commit terrorist acts and related charges. In a different court, JI leader Zarkasih was sentenced to prison on similar charges. The court rulings marked the first official Indonesian classification of JI as a terrorist organization. Dujana later testified on behalf of the prosecution in the terrorist trials of Dr. Argus Purwantoro and Abu Husna.

July 4: Indonesian security forces arrested 10 militants linked to JI who had allegedly been plotting to bomb a cafe in Sumatra. Some of the militants were believed to have participated in the Bali bombing of 2002. One of the suspects was arrested as a result of an alert posted by the Singapore government.

November: The government of Indonesia executed three of the 2002 Bali bombers: Amrozi bin Nurhasym, Imam Samudra and Ali Gufron. The executions provoked no serious security incidents despite calls by JI co-founder Abu Bakar Bashir for retaliatory attacks.

April 1: Police in Malaysia captured JI leader Mas Selemat Kastari more than a year after he had escaped from a detention center in Singapore. Kastari is suspected of playing a leading role in a plot to crash a plane in Singapore, and to blow up the U.S. Embassy. Kastari escaped from the Singapore facility through an un-secured window and swam across the Straits of Johor using a flotation device. According to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Kastari had been planning attacks on Malaysian and Singapore targets.

April 1: A Philippine government official reported that at least one leading member of Jemaah Islamiyah was among a group of militants holding three humanitarian aid workers hostage in Sulu. The Red Cross workers were taken hostage in January 2009. The official, citing government intelligence, claimed that a Singaporean member of JI was one of the kidnappers. The government said a second JI militant may also have been involved.

April 28: An Indonesian court sentenced three militants associated with JI to various prison terms for terrorist-related activities. The militants were among a group of activists apprehended in July 2008. Two of the accused were Indonesian and one was from Singapore.