JI no longer a serious threat to Australia: ICG

SYDNEY: The South East Asian-based network behind a string of deadly bombings against westerners, Jemaah Islamiyah, is no longer a serious threat to Australia, according to International Crisis Group head Gareth Evans. The network blamed for the Bali nightclub bombings which killed 202 people including 88 Australians in 2002, and the suicide bombings of the Australian embassy and Jakarta’s Marriott hotel, has had its power greatly reduced by police and intelligence work, Evans says in a speech. He says the International Crisis Group’s perception is that “the JI regional division that covered Australia has been effectively smashed by Indonesian police and intelligence operations, well supported by Australian agencies, and that JI itself no longer poses a serious threat in Indonesia or elsewhere”. “The fugitive Malaysian bomb-makers for the embassy attack - Noordin and Azahari - may be tempted by another western target in Indonesia, but a household-name US enterprise is seen as more likely than anything identifiably Australian.” afp

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