Malay IS Unit Behind Jakarta Attack: Analysts

Lenita Sulthani and Arie Firdaus
2016.01.14
160114_ID_ANALYSIS_620.jpg Three bodies lie on the street near a police post in Jakarta following attacks claimed by the Islamic State, Jan. 14, 2016
BenarNews

Updated at 10:40 a.m. ET on 2016-01-19

A man jockeying for leadership of the Malay-language wing of the Islamic State is the likely mastermind of Thursday’s attack in Jakarta, police and analysts say.

They are connecting the dots between that individual, Bahrun Naim, and one of the gunmen caught on camera during the hours-long attack near the Sarinah Department Store that left seven dead and 24 injured.

“Many knew him in prison as a follower of Aman Abdurrahman, and as someone who participated in a weapons training in Aceh,” security expert Nasir Abas said of the gunman, during an interview with BenarNews.

Aman Abdurrahman is serving a nine-year sentence at Nusakambangan prison in Central Java for his role supporting that training, which took place in 2010.

It was there that he formed a close bond with Bahrun Naim, according to Nasir, who believes Bahrun is the leader and funder of the cell that mounted the attack.

The Islamic State group (IS) claimed the attack in a statement Thursday, marking the first time that the Middle East-based extremist group has been linked to a terrorist strike in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

Competing for leadership

Jakarta police chief Tito Karnavian named IS and Bahrun Naim as the force behind the attack during a press conference at the Presidential Palace.

“The perpetrator network is linked with ISIS, which is based in Raqqa,” Tito said, using another acronym for IS and referring to its stronghold in a Syrian city.

Under its leader Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi, IS had expanded its strategy beyond Iraq and Syria.

“They have opened branches all over the world to carry out operations like those in France, Turkey and Southeast Asia,” he said.

“In Southeast Asia, some figures are competing for leadership. Actions in Indonesia including Sarinah are managed by a figure named Bahrun Naim.”

Who is Bahrun Naim?

Muhammad Bahrun Naim Anggih Tamtomo was arrested by Indonesian police in November 2010, ahead of a visit to Indonesian U.S. President Barack Obama, for possessing illegal ammunition, according to Ansyaad Mbai, the former head of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT).

“He was sentenced to 2.5 years in jail. But in June 2012, he was already free,” Ansyaad told BenarNews.

Bahrun is an IT expert and skilled hacker who can also use hacking to steal money, Ansyaad said.

He is thought to have gone to Syria sometime in 2014.

“I agree with the Jakarta police chief, who said he [Bahrun] wants to be the leader of the ISIS group in Southeast Asia,” Ansyaad said.

‘The groom truly has to die’

Bahrun is associated with Katibah Nusantara Lil Daulah Islamiyah (Malay Archipelago Unit of the Islamic State), which was formed by Indonesian and Malaysian militants fighting for IS in Syria, according to a 2014 report by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, a Jakarta-based think-tank.

The unit could spread the reach of IS in Southeast Asia, and it could also become a fighting force in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, the report warned.

Bahrun is known to have been in contact with an IS cell in Bekasi, near Jakarta, and another in Solo, Central Java, where security forces foiled a terror plot in late December, according to Budi Gunawan, deputy chief of the national police.

“We anticipated the act planned for New Year’s Eve, and were able to capture them” before they could carry it out, Budi said Thursday during a visit to the scene of the attack in Jakarta.

Bahrun’s name also emerged during investigations after police arrested an ethnic Uyghur man in Bekasi in late December. Police believe the man was being groomed as a suicide bomber.

Thursday’s attack was similar to ones that have taken place overseas, such as the multiple attacks on civilian targets in Paris on Nov. 13 that killed 130, according to Wawan Purwanto, a staff expert at the BNPT.

People groomed for suicide bombing are very hard to deter from that goal, he noted.

"The ‘groom’ truly has to die, it is a point of pride,” Wawan said, using the Indonesian term for suicide bombers derived from the idea that such “martyrs” are rewarded with brides in heaven.

An earlier version incorrectly identified Bahrun Naim  as Bahrum Naim.

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