JAKARTA, Indonesia
— Indonesian police transferred nine terrorism suspects, bound and
wearing black hoods, to the capital, Jakarta, on Thursday after their
arrest in southern Sumatra.

According to the police, a
raid on Wednesday in the Sumatran port city of Palembang by an elite
Indonesian counterterrorism team turned up more than a dozen homemade
bombs and a cache of ammunition. A police spokesman refused to give
further details, saying that the prisoners were being interrogated
about the nature of their plan and their roles within the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist network.

Indonesian
news outlets quoted an antiterrorism official as saying that the men
were planning an attack on Westerners in Jakarta, but no details were
given.

Jemaah Islamiyah is believed to have a vast network throughout the island of Sumatra.

The
police confirmed that at least one of the suspects was Singaporean, but
experts dismissed rumors that he might be Mas Selamat Kastari, who is
suspected of being the leader of Jemaah Islamiyah. He escaped from a
Singapore prison in March.

Sidney Jones, a terrorism expert who
is the director of International Crisis Group in Jakarta, however, said
the escapee was not among those caught in the Wednesday raids. “They
are all certainly members of Jemaah Islamiyah,” Ms. Jones said. “And at
least one is Singaporean, but he is definitely not Mas Selamat.”

The
authorities suspected that Noordin Top, a Jemaah Islamiyah militant
from Malaysia, was hiding in Palembang in early 2007, and some analysts
have said that he may have started a splinter terrorist group. He is
believed to be responsible for several major bombings in Indonesia.

Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for most of the major attacks in
Indonesia in recent years, including the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings
that killed more than 200 people.

The militant wing of Jemaah
Islamiyah, however, has been seriously weakened in recent years after
the loss of several important leaders, including the group’s master
bomb maker, Azhari Husin, who was killed in a shootout in 2005.

Indonesia’s
success in fighting terrorism prompted the Bush administration to renew
military ties with the country. And the State Department lifted a
travel advisory last month that had warned Americans of possible
terrorist attacks.

Australia, which has worked closely with
Indonesia in its fight against the militant network, has refused to
lift its travel warning for Indonesia, however, saying there is still
evidence that terrorists are planning attacks.

Despite its
setbacks, Jemaah Islamiyah has proven resilient. The group relies on a
grassroots recruiting effort focused heavily on Indonesia’s many
Islamic boarding schools. One of the suspects arrested Wednesday, Ms.
Jones said, was the director of an Islamic school in Palembang.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/04/world/asia/04indonesia.html?_r=1&em&ex...