http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21914097-2703,00.html
Indonesia captures JI's supreme leader a.. Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta correspondent, and Natalie O'Brien b.. June 16, 2007 INDONESIAN police have arrested the supreme head of regional terror group Jemaah Islamiah in raids that also netted his military commander and a host of other attack planners. The man, identified as Zarkasih or Mbah, 45, was the group's "emergency leader" and had total control of its operations across Indonesia. Police warned yesterday that three of Zarkasih's deputies, responsible respectively for the deadly organisation's outreach, logistics and education programs, remained on the run. They said Zarkasih had had overall control of all JI operations throughout Indonesia since 2005 -- a role formerly carried out by militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. The Bashir revelation is significant because police have never been able to prove -- and the cleric has always denied -- that he was ever the organisation's leader. Extensive details of the structure of the terrorist group, responsible for the two Bali bombings, several deadly attacks in Jakarta and an ongoing secular war in central Sulawesi, have emerged after a successful week of raids across Central and East Java. Zarkasih was arrested last Saturday, about the same time as his military commander, Abu Dujana, but news of his capture was delayed as police continued to mop up gang members. The men will be charged in relation to crimes including the 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing and ongoing sectarian unrest in Poso, central Sulawesi. Head of the elite Detachment 88 anti-terror squad, Suryadarma Salim Nasution, announced yesterday that Zarkasih was "the emergency head of JI. He was above Abu Dujana and was captured on the same day". In a video released yesterday, Zarkasih revealed that he was appointed to the organisation's top job after the 2004 arrest of then leader Ustadz (religious teacher) Adung. "To fill the vacuum, a special body was formed, because it was very difficult to find a true emir," Zarkasih said. "So the others appointed me -- actually I didn't know what the emir's role was, but I accepted, while the others sought a true emir." His military chief, Abu Dujana, also explained after his capture, how JI's command structure had changed since the foiled leadership of Bashir, who spent time between 2002 and 2005 in jail on immigration violations after prosecutors failed to have him convicted in relation to the first Bali bombing and other attacks. "The emirs of Jemaah Islamiah from 1993 until 2000 were Ustadz Abdullah Sungkar, from 2000-2002, Ustadz Abu Bakar Bashir, from 2002 until 2003 Abu Rusdan and from 2003 until 2005 Ustadz Adung; from 2005 until now it has been Zarkasih," Dujana told police. Terrorism commentator Zachary Abuza yesterday said that Abu Dujana's revelations about the organisation's structure were typical of the relief some terror suspects feel upon being captured. "They are the country's most wanted men, you couldn't imagine the pressure they are living under," Dr Abuza said. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said the week's arrests were an excellent result.
