https://www.scmp.com/rss/322044/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com An Indonesian militant linked to Islamic State (IS) smiled and raised one finger toward heaven after a court on Wednesday sentenced him to 11 years in prison for leading a plot to attack a presidential guard-changing ceremony in Jakarta. At the same sentencing hearing, a co-conspirator, who received six years in prison, shook his fist in the air and shouted “God is Great.” Muhammad Nur Solihin, the ring leader, and Agus Supriyadi were arrested along with two other militants including Solihin’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2112064/sympathiser-who-devised-indonesian-attack-plot-sentenced-11?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2112064/sympathiser-who-devised-indonesian-attack-plot-sentenced-11?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Sep 2017 11:50:48 +0000 An Indonesian court on Thursday sentenced an Islamic militant to 10 years in prison for his involvement in a suicide bombing and gun attack in the capital Jakarta earlier this year. Dodi Suridi, 23, was captured a day after the January 14 attack that killed eight people including four militants, who police said claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group. Judge Achmad Fauzi, who presided over the trial at the West Jakarta District Court, said Suridi was guilty of violating Indonesia’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2038715/militant-smiles-and-praises-allah-after-being-sentenced-10?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2038715/militant-smiles-and-praises-allah-after-being-sentenced-10?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Oct 2016 09:58:55 +0000 A suicide bomber riding a motorbike blew himself up outside an Indonesian police station Tuesday, injuring one officer in an attack officials said was linked to the Islamic State group. The attack in Solo city, the country’s radical heartland and the hometown of President Joko Widodo, came as the Indonesian leader was preparing to visit to celebrate the Islamic holiday of Eid with his family. The authorities in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation are on alert a day before Eid, amid... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1985607/linked-suicide-bomber-motorbike-strikes-indonesian-police?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1985607/linked-suicide-bomber-motorbike-strikes-indonesian-police?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Jul 2016 06:17:43 +0000 A power struggle among three Indonesian-born Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria could have a violent ripple effect in Southeast Asia, senior police warn, as a deadly game of one-upmanship threatens to cause more Jakarta-style attacks. A crackdown in the wake of January’s gun and suicide assault on the Indonesian capital has uncovered a complex web of small militant cells working at the behest of competing ringleaders in Syria, shedding light on the nature of IS infiltration far from its... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1909761/indonesian-police-high-alert-three-way-power-struggle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1909761/indonesian-police-high-alert-three-way-power-struggle?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Feb 2016 04:49:42 +0000 Life isn’t easy for convicted militants like Machmudi Hariono when they walk out of prison in Indonesia. Barred from most jobs, shunned by society, Hariono’s debts piled up until an outreach programme working with reformed jihadis got him a kitchen job in a small cafe. Today the 40-year-old manages several businesses, including a car rental service, and is “at peace”, having found a new calling far from the violent jihad that derailed his life. “It will erase the old you, the one who stayed in... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1904406/anti-radicalisation-programmes-focus-indonesian-prisons?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1904406/anti-radicalisation-programmes-focus-indonesian-prisons?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Jan 2016 21:01:20 +0000 The ease with which three separate groups of ethnic Uygur militants sneaked into Indonesia is ringing alarm bells for security forces, who are on high alert for a far deadlier attack than last week’s assault on Jakarta. At least 10 Uygurs, who hail from China, arrived in the world’s most populous Muslim nation over the last 18 months to join Islamist radicals, exposing an extensive support network ready to welcome wannabe jihadists. Police fear the same network could assist in the return of... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1903690/indonesian-authorities-confront-mounting-challenge-they?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1903690/indonesian-authorities-confront-mounting-challenge-they?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Jan 2016 11:13:00 +0000 Afif was an inmate in a high-security Indonesian jail when he transformed from aspiring radical Islamist to soldier for Islamic State, ready to sacrifice his life for a group based thousands of miles away in the Middle East. His journey ended with his death last week on a busy intersection in central Jakarta, after the gun and suicide bomb attack he launched with three other militants that brought Islamic State’s brand of violence to Southeast Asia for the first time. Afif’s graduation from... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1902828/jail-jihad-indonesian-prisons-have-become-breeding-ground?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1902828/jail-jihad-indonesian-prisons-have-become-breeding-ground?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Jan 2016 06:20:05 +0000 Last week’s attack on Jakarta showed for the first time that Islamic State (IS) violence has arrived in Indonesia, but security experts believe the radical group’s footprint is still light because militants are jostling to be its regional leader. Police have identified Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian based in Syria, as the mastermind of the blitz of bombings and gunfire that left all five attackers and two civilians dead on Thursday. But perhaps the region’s most influential jihadi is a jailed... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1902013/jakarta-attack-highlights-expanding-jihadist-threat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1902013/jakarta-attack-highlights-expanding-jihadist-threat?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Jan 2016 10:53:06 +0000 Seven years ago, Bahrun Naim was quietly running an internet cafe in the small Indonesian city of Solo. He has now been identified by police as the supposed mastermind behind the deadly attack on Jakarta claimed by Islamic State, pulling the strings from Raqqa, the radical group’s de facto capital in Syria. In between, Naim was arrested in 2011 for illegal arms possession and jailed for three years, and police say that since then he has emerged as a key player in militant networks that have... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1901233/revealed-former-cafe-manager-suspected-masterminding?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1901233/revealed-former-cafe-manager-suspected-masterminding?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Jan 2016 23:30:00 +0000 A “Paris-style” suicide strike in Jakarta killed two civilians and left more than 20 others injured in a coordinated gun and bomb attack that also claimed the lives of five suspected attackers, police and government officials said. A Canadian and an Indonesian died in the midmorning explosions and gunfire that were watched by office workers from high-rise buildings, police said. The information division of the National Police Headquarters said on its Facebook account that among the injured, four... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1901125/jakarta-starbucks-bombing-three-arrested-over-paris-style?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/1901125/jakarta-starbucks-bombing-three-arrested-over-paris-style?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Jan 2016 06:00:45 +0000