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Terrorist group targeted Japan-linked power plant
(Yomiuri Shimbun, The (Tokyo) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) JAKARTA, Indonesia _ The al-Qaida-linked Jemmah Islamiyah militant network based in Southeastern Asia planned last year to bomb a power plant in the east of Java island that is capitalized by Japanese, British and U.S. companies, according to a source in the Indonesian security authorities.
The source said JI was also investigating whether citizens of the United States and its allies were working at Paiton coal thermal power plant, located about 150 kilometers southeast of Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city.
It is the first time that a terrorist attack planned by JI targeting Japanese-related facilities has been discovered.
Paiton power plant, which was built by Japanese trading and other companies, and major U.S. and British power companies provide electricity in most parts of Java island.
The source said the attack was plotted early last year by Noordin Mohamed Top, a JI leader and the mastermind of the suicide bombings on Bali in October that killed 20 people.
The plan is believed to be aimed at throwing the region into confusion by causing a large-scale blackout on Java island. Noordin ordered JI members to stake out the plant, the source said.
Two JI members who were arrested on suspicion of harboring Noordin and are currently on trial told local prosecutors that they were ordered to check whether foreign citizens, including Americans, worked at the plant.
Noordin is believed to have picked the power plant as a target because it is capitalized and operated by foreign companies.
However, the attack was eventually aborted because JI could not make bombs powerful enough to disable the plant, according to the source.
The security authorities found that Noordin also had his subordinates check whether Japanese and U.S. consulate generals were located as they were shown on a map JI had.
A security official warned that Japanese citizens should be aware of the dangers in the area.
The planned attack on the power plant shows that JI is targeting Japanese companies' interests.
The source said Noordin is expanding terrorism targets to non-Muslims in general.
In the latest case, the authorities also suspect that a JI member who was ordered by Noordin to stake out the plant and the Japanese Consulate General was also told to check if a mushroom-processing plant in Surabaya was run by Japanese managers.
However, the factory was removed from a target list as the JI member found that the factory is managed by an Indonesian of Chinese descent.
JI is believed to be planning terrorist attacks in Indonesia using as its model the kidnapping and murder of foreigners and non-Muslims in Iraq.
"To get funds to carry out terrorism, JI could attempt to kidnap rich Japanese," the security official said.
According to Indonesian police, Noordin recently formed a new terrorist group called Tanzim Qaidatul Jihad.
Former JI senior member Mohammed Nasir Abbas said that because there is a group within JI that opposes Noordin's strong militant tendency, he formed a new group to carry out terrorist attacks at his own initiative.
Abbas said that Noordin is increasingly leaning toward indiscriminate terrorism. "Terrorism could occur anytime and anywhere," the source said.
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(c) 2006, The Yomiuri Shimbun.
Visit the Daily Yomiuri Online at http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/index-e.htm/
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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