Bin Laden’s Brother-in-Law Khalifa Bombed Bali

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Bin Laden's Brother-in-Law Khalifa

Behind Bali Bombings

DEBKAfile Special Report

13 October: No group claimed responsibility for the two car bombs

that turned the Indonesian island paradise of Bali into a fiery

inferno Saturday, October 12, killing close to 200 and maiming many

hundreds. But the hand of al Qaeda was hard to miss.

According to DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources, Osama Bin Laden's

own brother in law, Mohammed Khalifa, overall operations chief for al

Qaeda in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and other parts of South East

Asia, engineered the Bali horror

Not only did the brutal massacre bear all the hallmarks of Osama bin

Laden's deadly network, it occurred on the second anniversary of the

day that a suicide cell in a speedboat struck the USS Cole in Aden

harbor, six days after a copycat strike against the French oil tanker

Limburg off the Yemeni coast, four days after a US Marine was killed

and another wounded in a shooting attack in Kuwait, and just about a

week after the recorded voices of Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahri

scattered dire threats over the Arab satellite TV station, Al

Jazeera.

The time spread is too tight to be random; the geographical spread

too broad for any but a far-flung network. The ability to strike

where least expected is a recurring feature in Osama bin Laden's

blood-spattered record. But the Islamist movement's affinity with

Iraq is the common thread running through the al Qaeda terror

offensive erupting this month.

The two Kuwait assailants, who were shot dead themselves, had trained

in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. The Yemen Abu Abayda Islamic Army,

associated with al Qaeda, posted a message claiming a US frigate was

its first target, but bombing the French oil tanker was just as good

because the French were also infidels and willing to fight Iraq

alongside America.

The Indonesian government, insistently warned that terror was brewing

in the sprawling country, the world's most populous Muslim nation,

has failed to stand up to the strong opposition to preventive arrests

of suspected terrorists without irrefutable evidence. Some Muslim

factions claim a crackdown on the extremists and their front

organizations, who are grouped under the umbrella Jemaah Islamiya,

would only enhance their glamour in the eyes of the Muslim masses. In

the days of President Suharto, the Muslim right was at the forefront

of the political opposition. Its leaders were imprisoned, to emerge

after his resignation in 1998 as popular heroes.

Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who fled to Malaysia, returned home to lead the

Jemaah Islamiya, the JI, with the aim of setting up an Islamic state

in Indonesia. Inspired by Hasan al-Banna, founder of Egypt's Muslim

Brotherhood, he preached jihad as the means to that end. Later,

falling under the influence of al Qaeda, the JI went international.

Malaysia and Singapore say it is the aim of Jemaah Islamiya, to set

up an Islamic state in South East Asia covering Malaysia, Indonesia,

Singapore and the southern Philippines. They accuse the Megawati

government of being soft on the group because Ba'asyir, who lives

openly in Djakarta, has sympathizers in her government.

In December 2001, three months after the 9/11 attacks on the

WorldTradeCenter and Pentagon, the Singapore authorities arrested

fifteen Muslim extremists suspected of acting for al Qaeda. Thirteen

were identified as members of the JI, of whom eight were trained in

Afghanistan camps. They were alleged to be plotting to bomb a bus

ferrying US troops and US naval vessels docked in Singapore.

Singapore senior minister Lee Kuan Yew stated in May 2002 that

interrogation of the suspects had disclosed their links to Abu Bakar

Ba'asyir and the JI.

One of Ba'asyir's closest associates, Abu Jibril aka Fihiruddin is

believed to be the financial bagman for al Qaeda in the region.

Another, Hambali, aka Nurjaman, described by Lee as Ba'asyir's senior

lieutenant, has been linked to a wave of bombings in Indonesia in

December 2000 and attacks in Manila. Suspected of direct links with

al Qaeda, his current whereabouts are unknown

The writing was on the wall for those who would read it. Australian

officials furiously accused Indonesia Sunday night of ignoring

warnings and a failure of intelligence.

Three quarters of the Bali victims were foreigners - the largest

group Australian. Among the hundreds missing were members of the

Australian, Singaporean and Hong Kong rugby teams. Australian Prime

Minister John Howard declared the war on terror must go on with

unrelenting vigor. Earlier he ordered an urgent security

review. "People should get out of their minds that it can't happen

here; it can and it has happened to our own on our doorstep," he said.

The Bali atrocity has finally hammered home that al Qaeda is on the

rampage again and has more terror attacks in store. Senator Richard

Shelby, top ranking Republican on the Senate Select Committee on

Intelligence, told ABC TV: "I believe that this is the beginning of a

lot more that we're going to see, perhaps in the US, although we hope

not."

Not only the US and Australia, but neighboring Malaysia and Singapore

too, charged that the Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiya is

linked to al Qaeda and was planning terrorist attacks. Ba'asyir does

not hide his admiration for bin Laden, but denies any terror

connections. Two weeks ago, he threatened to sue Time Magazine for

defamation after it linked him to terrorist activities.

Last week, the US ambassador to Indonesia warned he would withdraw

embassy staff unless security was improved, after a grenade explosion

near the embassy residence on September 23.

After the Bali bombings, US government began considering scaling down

its presence in Indonesia, advising Americans to consider whether

their presence in the country is essential.

Belatedly, President Megawati Sukarnoputri, after flying to Bali to

inspect the wreckage, declared a security alert for strategic targets.