Indonesia arrests suspected leader of Jemaah Islamiyah
Posted July 1, 2019 6:21 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesian police say they have arrested a man believed to be the leader of the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah network who has eluded capture since 2003.
National Police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said Monday that Para Wijayanto was arrested by counterterrorism police with his wife at a hotel in the Jakarta satellite city Bekasi on Saturday.
Prasetyo said Wijayanto is suspected of being involved in making bombs used in a series of attacks including the 2002 Bali bombings and a 2004 attack on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.
He said Wijayanto was also involved in sectarian conflict in Poso, known as a hotbed of Islamic militancy on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island.
A convicted militant who now collaborates with Indonesia’s counterterrorism agency, Sofyan Tsauri, said Wijayanto became leader of Jemaah Islamiyah in 2007.
The Associated Press
