US slaps sanctions on 3 leaders of LeT-linked Jemaah Islamiya

Washington, Aug 17: The US has slapped sanctions on three Indonesian leaders of Jemaah Islamiya (JI), the Southeast Asia-based terrorist network responsible for deadly bombings across the region, linking their outfit to al-Qaeda and Pakistan-based LeT.

The three men on whom sanctions were imposed by the US Treasury on Tuesday are Umar Patek, Abdul Rahim Ba'asyir and Muhammad Jibril Abdul Rahman.

"These three men have demonstrated their commitment to violence," Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen said.

The actions against them are intended to disrupt their ability to access the international financial system to support their "deadly agendas," he said.

Announcing the sanctions against the three men, the US Treasury linked Jemaah Islamiya to other terror groups like al-Qaeda, LeT and Abu Sayyaf Group in southern Philippines.

Patek, a key member of JI, has planned and funded multiple JI terror attacks in the Philippines and Indonesia.

He has also trained operatives associated with the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and personally developed explosive devices for this Philippines-based outfit. He was detained in Pakistan in early 2011 and was recently extradited to Indonesia.

Abdul Rahim Ba'asyir is a JI network leader, who has trained and led JI operatives in South and Southeast Asia since the late 1990s, and has provided facilitation and other support to al-Qaeda. As of mid-2009, Abdul Rahim was regarded as a senior JI leader with the ability to instigate violence.

He served from the late 1990s until 2002 as a leader of JI's Al-Ghuraba cell in Karachi, Pakistan.

Muhammad Jibril Abdul Rahman, a senior member of JI, has been directly involved in obtaining funding for terror attacks and other JI-linked operational activities.

PTI