Security experts: Al-Ghozi escape a boost to JI

With its spiritual head in the dock and operational chief on the run, Southeast Asia’s Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group has received a timely leadership boost through the escape of its strategist from a Philippine jail, analysts say.

Indonesian Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, JI’s best trained bomb expert, bolted from a high-security jail last Monday while serving a 17-year term for possession of a ton of explosives he planned to use for bombing Western targets in Singapore.

Following his escape, the 31-year-old Al-Ghozi is expected to shuttle among the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand – his former haunts – to help reorganize JI’s hit squads and activate sleeper cells in Southeast Asia, intelligence officials in the region told AFP.

"If you look at it from the leadership angle and his organizing capabilities, Al-Ghozi’s escape is a much-needed morale booster for JI, especially at this critical juncture when they are feeling the heat from relentless counter-terrorism campaigns," an official said.

Al-Ghozi has admitted being a bombmaker for the JI, believed to be the Southeast Asian chapter of the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.

JI has been using violent means in its bid to establish a pan-Islamic state across the region.

Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, 64, the alleged spiritual head of the JI who is charged with trying to topple the Indonesian government through terrorism, is in detention in Jakarta and facing treason charges.

Another Indonesian, Hambali, the JI operational chief and Asia’s most wanted man, is believed to be hiding in Thailand, intelligence officials say.

Hambali, also known as Riduan Isamuddin, played a key role in directing the Bali bomb attack that killed more than 200 people in October last year.

With Bashir incarcerated and Hambali on the run, Al-Ghozi should be able to re-establish contacts with the JI network quickly and shepherd its operations, analysts said.

"Al-Ghozi is a senior figure in the JI and considering his operational expertise, this is going to be very problematic" for counter-terrorism, said Andrew Tan, a security analyst at the Singapore-based Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies.

"Even before his escape, JI’s network remained active," Tan said, citing the arrest this month of nine JI suspects in Indonesia who police said were planing assassinations and bombings.

Police had seized from them explosives, detonators, ammunition, rifles, binoculars, JI documents and a booklet of church service schedules.

"With Al-Ghozi now at large, together with other senior JI members such as Hambali, the potential for fresh attacks around the region remains," said Bruce Gale, a political risk analyst with Hill and Associates Risk Consultancy (S) Pte. Ltd.

Although JI activities are traditionally confined to Malaysia, Indonesia, southern Thailand and southern Philippines, Gale said the pattern of arrests in more recent times suggested it "may now be trying to form alliances with other militant groups in the Indochina region, and possibly even Bangladesh."

Security analyst Tan said only 140 of the more than 500 JI members who trained in terrorism in Afghanistan and Southeast Asian camps, notably in the Philippines and Indonesia, had been arrested.

"Even their second- and third-ranking operatives can plan bomb attacks autonomously," he added.

Another key JI operative still in hiding is Azahari Mohamed, the bomb maker for the Bali blasts.

An analyst, who declined to be named, said Al-Ghozi and Hambali made a "deadly combination" and could revive plans to bomb targets in Singapore and Indonesia.

Rohan Gunaratna, author of "Inside Al-Qaeda: Global Network of Terror," said Al-Ghozi was capable of swiftly launching terrorist attacks.

"He is the most experienced, the best trained and the most well motivated," Gunaratna said.

"He is the one man who can put together an operation in such a short time. He knows how to purchase weapons, he knows how to put operations together, he knows security."– AFP