Web chats point to links with al-Qaida, Indonesia

Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia

It plays out like any ordinary chat between friends on Yahoo Messenger, but the subject matter is chilling: “thekiller” is looking to mesh his Indonesian militant network more deeply with al-Qaida in its Pakistani heartland.

“Come to Pak,” he is told by “SAIF-a”, the Pakistani at the other end. “The seniors say, send one of your boys to represent your group.”

But beware, “SAIF-a” warns. With the U.S. stepping up its rocket attacks, “The brothers are very worried, in Waziristan all missiles hit very accurately. It means someone inside is involved.”

The exchange appears in transcripts of Internet chat sessions recovered from the computer of Muhammad Jibriel, identified in the documents as the man suspected of using the screen name “thekiller.”

Jibriel, a 26-year-old Indonesian and well-known propagandist for al-Qaida, is on trial, accused of helping fund last year’s twin suicide bombings at luxury hotels in his country’s capital, Jakarta. He claims the transcripts are fabricated.

The 40 pages of conversations are in a police dossier that provides a rare glimpse into the inner workings of Jemaah Islamiyah, Southeast Asia’s main extremist group, suggesting it and allied networks in the region have more international links than was assumed.

Since the chats took place, from mid- to late 2008, a sustained crackdown on Southeast Asian groups has continued, resulting in the arrest of Jibriel and the execution of the man identified in the police dossier as one of his most prominent conversationalists.

The chats refer to other people engaged in contact with international extremists, and experts believe such ties likely continue.

The 800-page police dossier was given to lawyers and judges involved in Jibriel’s juryless trial but is not part of the indictment.