Bombshell Read online

  31 Chris Smith, “South Asia’s Enduring War,” in Rotberg, op. cit., p. 17.

  32 Interview with the author, Colombo, Sri Lanka, October 28, 2002.

  33 H.P. Chattopadhyaya, Ethnic Unrest in Modern Sri Lanka: An Account of Tamil–Sinhalese Race Relations, New Delhi, India: MD Publications, 1994, pp. 36, 40 passim. Chris Smith alleges the connection was between the People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and Al Fatah; Rotberg, op. cit., p. 32.

  34 The LTTE rebuffed several offers from Al Qaeda to share their suicide bombing technology. In interviews with the author they explained, “We did not want to kill Americans.”

  35 www.lacnet.org/srilanka/issues/kumari.html#a (accessed October 24, 2009)

  36 The accord was opposed by Sinhalese fundamentalists in the JVP, according to Kingsley M. de Silva (ed.) in Conflict and Violence in South Asia, op. cit., p. 197. The theme of JVP propaganda was the alleged “betrayal of the motherland” which the occupation of part of the country by an alien army was seen to represent. Eventually the Tamil separatists likewise opposed the IPKF, leading to its departure in 1990.

  37 K.T. Rajasingham, Sri Lanka: The Untold Story, chapter 35; “Accord Turns to Discord,” Asia Times, n.d., www.atimes.com/ind-pak/DD13Df02.html

  38 Tiruchelvam, op. cit., pp. 199–200.

  39 Smith in Rotberg, op. cit. p. 20.

  40 Rohan Gunaratna, Sri Lanka: A Lost Revolution, The Inside Story of the JVP, Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka, 1990, http://nesohr.org/inception-sept2007/human-rights-reports/StatisticsOnCiviliansAffectedByWar.pdf Chris McDowell, A Tamil Asylum Diaspora: Sri Lankan Migration, Settlement and Politics in Switzerland (Studies in Forced Migration), London: Berghahn Books, 1996, p. 181.

  41 Prabhakaran wrote letters dated 12/10/1987, 14/10/1987, and 13/01/1988.

  42 “Thamil National Liberation Struggle and National Leader Prabhakaran,” chapter 4, Indo–Thamil Eelam War, nakkeran.com/Thalaivar11.htm

  43 Darini Rajasingham-Sananyake, in Robert Rotberg, Creating Peace in Sri Lanka, op. cit., p. 62.

  44 Charu Lata Joshi, “Sri Lanka Suicide Bombers,” Far Eastern Economic Review, June 1, 2000, www.feer.com/_0006_01/p64currents.html (accessed November 26, 2003)

  45 Little in Rotberg, op. cit.

  46 Adele Ann, Women Fighters of the Liberation Tigers, Jaffna, Sri Lanka: Thasan Publication Department of the LTTE, January 1, 1993, p. 17.

  47 Prabhakaran quote provided by Tamil sources. Personal correspondence, September 2008.

  48 Peter Schalk, “On the Sacrificial Ideology of the Liberation Tigers,” 1993. www.tamilnation.org/ltte/93schalk.htm

  49 Peter Schalk, “Resistance and Martyrdom in the Process of State Formation of Tamililam,” Joyce Pettigrew (ed.), Martyrdom and Political Resistance, Amsterdam, Netherlands: 1997 pp. 61–83.

  50 Alex Perry, “How Sri Lanka’s Rebels Build a Suicide Bomber,” Time, May 12, 2006, www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1193862,00.html/#ixzz0zJltxVrG

  51 Neloufer de Mel, “The Body Politics, (Re)presenting the Female Suicide Bomber in Sri Lanka,” citing M.R.N. Swamy, Inside an Elusive Mind: Prabhakaran, Fremont, CA: Literate World, 2003, pp. 243–44.

  52 Adele Ann, Women Fighters of the Liberation Tigers, op. cit., p. ii.

  53 Tamil sources, personal correspondence with the author, November 26, 2003.

  54 Frances Harrison, “Up Close with the Tamil Tigers,” BBC World. January 29, 2002, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1789503.stm

  55 Charu Lata Joshi, “Sri Lanka Suicide Bombers,” Far Eastern Economic Review, June 1, 2000.

  56 Beate Arnestad interview with Darshika and Puhalchudar in the film My Daughter the Terrorist: Black Tiger Suicide Cadres Tell Their Story, 2008.

  57 Ibid.

  58 Ibid.

  59 John Horgan, The Psychology of Terrorism, London: Routledge, 2005.

  60 Beate Arnestad interview, op. cit.

  61 Ibid.

  62 Alex Perry, “How Sri Lanka’s Rebels Build a Suicide Bomber,” Time, May 12, 2006, www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1193862,00.html

  63 LTTE statement issued in December 2007 after the aerial bombardment and targeted assassination of second-in-command Tamilchelvam.

  64 Beate Arnestad interview, op. cit.

  65 Sachi Sri Kanthi, “Homage to the Black Tigers,” www.tamilnation.org/ltte/black_tigers/index.htm

  66 Beate Arnestad interview, op. cit.

  67 Ibid.

  68 Ibid.

  69 Ibid.

  70 New York Times, May 29, 1995.

  71 Beate Arnestad interview, op. cit.

  72 www.tamilnation.org/ltte/vp/070423us.htm

  73 Jan Goodwin, “When the Suicide Bomber Is a Woman,” Marie Claire magazine, www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/international/female-suicide-bomber

  74 “At the time, each family living under LTTE control was required to provide a child to the separatist forces fighting for an independent Tamil homeland for three decades.” “Former Female Fighters Strive for Better Life,” Daily Times, September 30, 2010, http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010%5C09%5C30%5C story_30-9-2010_pg20_9.

  75 Jan Goodwin, op. cit.

  76 Ibid.

  77 Ibid.

  78 Ibid

  79 Ibid.

  80 Ibid.

  81 Ibid.

  82 According to Tamil sources, and the LTTE’s Peace Secretariat.

  83 www.island.lk/2007/06/10/news13.html

  84 Tamil Guardian, “Admired Female LTTE Leader Killed in Battle,” June 4, 2008, p. 13.

  6 The Crucial Links

  1 http://us.detiknews.com/read/2008/10/23/150550/1024886/10/paridah-abas-bungkam-usai-besuk-muklas

  2 Paridah Abas, orang bilang ayah teroris, Jakarta: Jazeera Abas, 2004, p. 87.

  3 Kelly McEvers, “The Terrorist’s Wife,” Slate, October 31, 2005, http://audiojournal.com/paridah.html

  4 Paridah Abas, orang bilang ayah teroris, op. cit., p. 99.

  5 International Crisis Group, Jemaah Islamiya in South East Asia: Damaged but Still Dangerous, ICG Report no. 63, August 26, 2003, p. 32.

  6 Agence France Presse, March 17, 2003.

  7 Kelly McEvers, Straits Times, January 19, 2004.

  8 The Indonesian Ikhwan’ ul-Muslimin began in the mid-1980s and derived most of its ideas, tactics, and practices from the Ikhwan Al Muslimun movement in Egypt. The Indonesian Ikhwan was comprised mostly of student returnees from Egypt and other Arab countries. R.P. Mitchell, The Society of the Muslim Brothers, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969, and Ikhwan Al Muslimin: Inspirasi Gerakan Tarbiyyah, in Suara Hidayatullah, Jakarta, August 2001, cited by Farish A. Noor, “Women in the Service of the Jundullah: The Case of Women Supporters of the Jama’ah Islamiya of Indonesia,” paper for the workshop on “Female Suicide Bombers and Europe” organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Arundel House, London, March 12, 2007.

  9 S.Q. Fatimi, Islam Comes to Malaysia, Malaysian Sociological Research Institute (MSRI), Singapore. 1963; see also Norani Othman and Virginia Matheson Hooker (eds.), Islam Society and Politics, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2003.

  10 Noor, op. cit.

  11 Sidney Jones, interview with the author, December 16, 2009.

  12 International Crisis Group, Jemaah Islamiya in South East Asia, op. cit., p. 2.

  13 Maria A. Reesa, Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al Qaeda’s Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia, New York: Free Press, 2003.

  14 www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=noralwizah_lee_binti_abdullah_1

  15 Deborah Snow, “Race for Hambali’s Secrets,” Sydney Morning Herald, August 16, 2003, www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/15/1060936061339.html

  16 Arabinda Acharya, The Bali Bombings: Impact on Southeast Asia. Center for Eurasian Policy, Occasional Research Paper, Series II, no. 2. p.1.

  17 Marc Sageman, Understanding Terror Networks, Philadelphia: PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004, p
. 91.

  18 Malhadi, “Konsep Jihad Jemaah Islamiyah” (“JI’s Concept of Jihad”). Surabaya, Suara Hidaytulah, September 1, 2009.

  19 U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division, 3/8/2006 court transcripts. Sufaat’s company Green Laboratory Medicine SDN BHD purchased four tons of ammonium nitrate (four times as much the amount used in the Oklahoma City bombing), which has never been located. Simon Elegant, “Untangling the Web,” Time, January 28, 2002, www.time.com/time/asia/news/magazine/0,9754,197713,00.html

  20 AP, “Family Ties Bind Muslim Militants Together,” Taipei Times, September 3, 2003, p. 5.

  21 Christopher S. Bond, “Indonesia and the Changing Front in the War on Terrorism,” Heritage Foundation Lectures, no. 875, April 28, 2005.

  22 Rohan Gunaratna, “The Links That Bind Terror Groups,” The Guardian, October 15, 2002.

  23 Kelly McEvers, “The Terrorist’s Wife,” op. cit.

  24 William M. Wise, Indonesia’s War on Terror. USINDO United States Indonesia Society, August 2005, www.usindo.org/publications/reports/pdf/WarOnTerror.pdf (p. 3).

  25 Samudra has multiple aliases, including Qudama and Abdul Aziz.

  26 Imama Samudra, Aku Melawan Teroris (“I Fight the Terrorists”), cited by Acharya, op. cit., p. 2.

  27 Kelly McEvers, “The Terrorist’s Wife,” op. cit.

  28 DHS profile of Huda bin Abdul Haq (Mukhlas) Global Security, www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/huda_bin_abdul_haq.htm

  29 The two hotels were hit simultaneously by suicide bombers who had assembled their bombs in the guest rooms.

  30 Anthony L. Smith, “The Politics of Negotiating the Terrorist Problem in Indonesia,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 28:1, January 2005, pp. 33–44.

  31 Between 2003 and 2005 JI suffered from internal fractures, with some members calling for a more sectarian-centered approach while others argued for attacks against the Indonesian government and Western targets. JI pursued both strategies. Documents captured during a police raid showed that sectarian violence is in fact central to JI tactics.

  32 “CIA, Mossad Infiltrated Muslim Organizations,” The Daily, Pakistan, December 28, 2008, www.daily.pk/world/middleeast/cia_mossad_infiltrated_muslim_organizations.html

  33 Estimates of JI membership vary from two hundred to several thousand members at the time of the Bali bombings. However, most sources tend to agree that JI has a membership of around five hundred.

  34 “Jemaah Islamiya Declared Terrorist Organization, Alleged Military Chief Given 15 years,” AP, Jakarta Post, April 21, 2008, www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/04/21/jemaah-islamiya-declared-terrorist-organization-alleged-military-chief-given-15-years

  35 Sally Neighbour, The Mother of Mohammed: An Australian Woman’s Extraordinary Journey into Jihad, Melbourne, Australia: Melbourne University Press, 2009, pp. 148–59.

  36 In 1982 Abu Bakar Ba’asyir opened a Madrassa in Johor, Malaysia. During this time JI began to court the support of other Southeast Asia Islamists who had gone to Afghanistan as mujahideen. Members of the Afghan Mujahideen International Brigade made up the first rank and file of the organization. Zachary Abuza, Militant Islam in Southeast Asia: Crucible of Terror, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2003, and Greg Barton, Jamaah Islamiya: Radical Islam in Indonesia, Singapore: National University of Singapore (NUS), 2005.

  37 Kelly McEvers, “The Terrorist’s Wife,” op. cit.

  38 Sally Neighbour, op, cit. p.158.

  39 Carlyle A. Thayer, “Leadership Dynamics in Terrorist Organizations in Southeast Asia,” Centre for Defence Leadership Studies, 3/2005, April 2005, p. 18.

  40 Elena Pavlova, “From Counter-Society to Counter-State: Jemaah Islamiya According to PUPJI,” Working Paper, no. 117, Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Singapore, November 14, 2006, p. 2.

  41 Ibid., p. 6. The oath of allegiance, or bay’ah, can only be given to the leader of all of the Muslims, and it is given by the decision makers—i.e., the scholars and people of virtue and status. It is not intended to be a form of personal allegiance to an individual terrorist-cell leader.

  42 The chain of transmission for the Hadith was: Al Hakim narrated it in the Mustadrak (1:116, 177) with a sound (sahih) chain as well as Tirmidhi (gharib) #2256, Cairo ed. ‘Aridat Al Ahwadhi (11:9). See www.sunnah.org/fiqh/usul/ijma.htm

  43 Muhammed Salih Al Munajid, “Did Shaikh Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Al Wahhaab rebel against the Othmani Caliphate and what was the reason for its fall?” www.islamqa.com

  44 Interview with the author, December 16, 2009. Top and Azahari created the Banten Ring, which was a precursor to their violent JI splinter.

  45 Interview in Jakarta, name withheld, July 2007.

  46 Sally Neighbour, op. cit., p. 157.

  47 Interview in Jakarta Prison, 2005, Noor Huda Ismail, cited in “Al Qaeda’s Southeast Asia, Jemaah Islamiya and Regional Terrorism: Kinship and Family Links,” Japan Focus.

  48 Scott Atran, “A Chilling Message for the Infidels,” The First Post, June 18, 2006; BBC News, “Profile: Abu Bakar Ba’asyir,” June 14, 2006, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2339693.stm

  49 “Ba’asyir: Indonesia Hrus Kirim Psukan” (“Ba’asyir: Indonesia to Send Troops”), Hizbut Tahrir, Jakarta, November 2, 2009.

  50 Arabinda Acharya, “The Bali Bombings: Impact on Southeast Asia,” op. cit., p. 5.

  51 Author interview with John Horgan, Jakarta, June 2007.

  52 David Montero, “In Her Boarding Schools, Lily Munir Teaches Women and Children Their Religion Supports Gender Equality,” Christian Science Monitor, October 28, 2008.

  53 Renier Hendrik Van Der Merwe, “Jemaah Islamiya—Critical Discussion of Tactics and Threats,” NewsBlaze, November 22, 2009, newsblaze.com/story/20091122185010iiis.nb/topstory.html

  54 His aliases include Mukhlas and Huda bin Abdul Haq.

  55 Farish A. Noor, “Women in the Service of the Jundullah,” op. cit.

  56 Kelly McEvers, “The Women of Jemaah Islamiah,” BBC, East Asia Today, January 10, 2004.

  57 Ibid.

  58 “Jemaah Islamiyyah in South East Asia: Damaged but Still Dangerous,” International Crisis Group (ICG) Report. August 26, 2003, p. 2; see also Wong Chun Wei and Lourdes Charles, “More Than 100 marriages Involve Key JI Members,” The Star Online, September 7, 2004, www.thestar.com.my/news/list.asp?file=/2004/9/7/nation/8791437&sec=focus

  59 Noor Huda Ismail, “Al Qaeda’s Southeast Asia, Jamaah Islamiyah and Regional Terrorism: Kinship and Family Links,” Japan Focus, January 19, 2007.

  60 Noor Huda Ismail, Understanding How Jihadis in Indonesia Rejuvenate Themselves, paper for the IRRI-KIIB conference, Brussels, March 30, 2006, p. 7.

  61 Her aliases include Acang, Lee Yen Lan, and Awi.

  62 Hambali is in extrajudicial detention in a Guantánamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba.

  63 Ken Conboy, The Second Front: Inside Jemaah Islamiya, Asia’s Most Dangerous Terrorist Network, London: Equinox, 2005, pp. 55–56 and “Highly Covert U.S.-Thai Operation Nabbed Hambali,” International Regional Security Agency, www.irs-agency.us/recent_captures.htm

  64 Marc Sageman, Understanding Terror Networks, Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004, p. 113.

  65 Zainah Anwar, Islamic Revivalism in Malaysia: Dakwah among the Students, Kuala Lumpur: Pelanduk Press, 1987; Lenore Manderson, Women, Politics and Change: The Kaum Ibu UMNO of Malaysia 1945–1972, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.

  66 Noor, op. cit.

  67 Interview with Sidney Jones, December 2009.

  68 Sally White, “The Wives of Noordin Top, “Inside Indonesia, 2009, www.insideindonesia.org/content/view/1254/47

  69 E-mail correspondence with Sally White, December 17, 2009.

  70 Abdul Khalik, “Noordin’s Wife Privy to Terror Plans: Police Source,” Jakarta Post, October 11, 2004.

  71 Sally White, “The Wives of Noordin Top,” op. cit.

  72 Sally Neighbour, op. cit., pp. 173–74.

  73 BBC World,
“Al Qaeda’s Surf Chick,” August 13, 2009, www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/2009/08/090804_outlook_rabiah_hutchinson.shtml

  74 Tom Allard and Cynthia Banham, “ASIO Took Mum’s Passport of Terror Suspects,” Sydney Morning Herald, November 3, 2006.

  75 “Jemaah Islamiya Recruiting Women for Bombing Missions,” ABS–CBN News, July 13, 2007.

  76 Simon Elegant, “Untangling the Web,” Time, January 28, 2002, www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,197713,00.html

  77 Renier Hendrik Van Der Merwe, “Jemaah Islamiya—Critical Discussion of Tactics and Threats,” NewsBlaze, November 22, 2009 http://newsblaze.com/story/20091122185010iiis.nb/topstory.html

  78 Zoe Murphy and Yoki Sari, “Bali Bomber Ali Imron Becomes Comic Book Character,” BBC News, August 6, 2010, www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10893889

  79 Ibid.

  7 The Recruiters and Propagandists

  1 “Al Qaeda’s Stance on Women Sparks Extremist Debate,” Associated Press, May 31, 2008, www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Al-Qaidas-Women.html?pagewanted=print.

  2 Canadian Embassy of Afghanistan, Bulletin 2031, Afghan News 06/01/2008, www.afghanemb-canada.net/en/news_bulletin/2008/june/01/index.php.

  3 Interview with the author (name withheld), January 2010.

  4 French senior counter-terrorism magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguière, quoted in The New York Times, May 28, 2008, www.covenentzone.blogspot.com

  5 CNN “One Woman’s War,” Part 1, http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2009/02/10/wus.one.womans.

  war.bk.b.cnn

  6 Marie Rose Armesto, Groot Bijgaarden de Standaard, December 22, 2007.

  7 CNN, “One Woman’s War,” op. cit.

  8 On May 12, 2009, Ayachi was charged with being the leader of a logistical support team for Al Qaeda in Europe. Wiretaps suggested his involvement in a plot against Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

  9 Mark Eeckhaut, “Bastin’s Muslim Elite,” Groot Bijgaarden De Standaard, November 23, 2004.

  10 Malika, veuve du Moujahid Shahid (Insha‘Allah) Dahmane Abdessater (RA), Les Soldats de la Lumière. 2003 available at www.archive.org/details/lumiere_580

  11 Neil J. Kressel, “When Moderate Religion Fails: Some Social and Psychological Roots of Extremist Faith,” paper presented at the 30th Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, Portland Oregon, July 6, 2007, p. 4.