Small bomb in Jakarta, unclear whether the work of JI
By Zachary Abuza
A small bomb was detonated in an American chain restaurant in Jakarta today. Only one person was injured, which authorities believed to have been the bomber. It is too early to say whether this was the work of Jemaah Islamiyah.
There are a few things to note. JI leaders seem to have rejected their trademark truck bomb for a number of reasons including, a desire to up the tempo of bombings, operational security, resources, and materials, in favor of small bag bombs a la London and Madrid. These were employed last October in three simultaneous blasts in Bali that killed 22. When the top bomb maker, Dr. Azahari bin Husin, was killed in a shootout in his safehouse last November, police found more than 30 small bombs in various states of construction. In addition to losing Azahari, JI lost their cache of explosives. Raids in Central Javanese safehouses last year netted a few more of the bombs. Earlier this fall a woman was apprehended with some 9 kilograms of high explosives. Clearly JI has not been able to recover from those setbacks. They don’t seem to be able to keep up with their one-year timetable for major attacks
If it was the work of JI, it clearly represents a challenged organization. More likely though, the bombing could be the work of a variety of splinter groups and completely autonomous or self-starting cells that are simply inspired by JI. Anti-American sentiment remains high in Indonesia due to Iraq, the war on terror and US support for Israel’s war in Lebanon.
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