The link between JI spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir and the latest attack on the 17th in Jakarta of jemaah islamiyah has been established according to local media reports in Jakarta.

One of the bodies recovered from the scene of the blast has been identified as a former student of his Madrassa in central Indonesia. Identified only by one letter by Police ‘N’ local television and media reports identified the suspect as “Nurhasbi”

Bashir School Denies Connection to Bombers

Jakarta Globe – An Islamic boarding school in Central Java founded by radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the reputed leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist …

Interviews with his family the news organizations say “he had not returned home and they had been unable to contact him by telephone.” in a report on Metro TV a private TV station in Indonesia. “The family also said Nurhasbi had attended the Ngruki Islamic boarding school in Solo, Central Java, graduating in 1995.”

Ngruki reports in Indonesia have said “Is the Islamic boarding school run by ‘extremist cleric’ Abu Bakar Bashir” Its alumni is a who’s-who of JI leaders, JI the group responsible for a string of deadly attacks in Jakarta, Manila. Bali, Mindanao, and has strong ties to the Abu Sayyaf group in the southern Philippines. For Philippine law enforcement it is also the school attended by Fathur Roman Al Ghozi; the slain JI bomb maker and admitted mastermind of the Rizal Day bombings.

Local media in central java have also reported that Indonesian police visited Nurhasbi’s family, speculation is they are seeking a DNA sample to try to identify a body at the scene of the hotel blasts. Technically analysts say the attacks are not part of JI’s organization anymore which has been by and large marginalized in Indonesia.

Dr. Greg Fealy writes in the Sydney Morning Hearld that it is improper to simple look at the attacks as mearly the work of J.I. but rather “A loosely organized group became known as the Noordin network,” The Nordin network is a name for a hardline breakaway group from Jemaah Islamyah, similar to in local terms hardliners in the secessionist movement. A old friend and former BBC correspondent in SE Asia John Mclean told me once that to look at the groups as monolithic organizations with firm structures is incorrect.

Nordin has had a “pivotal role in recruiting and mentally preparing plotters and prospective suicide bombers.” something uncommon to the situation in SE Asia as opposed to other parts of the extremist struggle. But there are other groups as well in Indonesia capable of carrying out terror bombings, the old Darul Islam and Kompak organizations – but these have not been known for sucide like attacks, seven if the groups have had a hand in the past in sectarian and or terrorist attacks

But accroding to Dr Greg Fealy, a senior lecturer in Indonesian politics at the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University.” The evidence that it may be Noordin is manifold. The use of suicide bombers, the careful planning and co-ordination, the discovery of similar bombs in the house of Noordin’s putative father-in-law two weeks ago, and the audacious targeting once again of the Marriott are all grounds for suspecting Noordin or those close to him.” With the identity of the one of the sucide bombers as coming from the school that has spawned terrorism suspects in its alumni being the core of links in Indonesian violent extremist attacks one can only summarize the Dr Fealy is party correct. But a strong emphasis also must be found in a study of Indonesian politics and warfare tactics – it is rare to find a puppet master fully at play in much of the public view such as Bashir’s recent actions and calls for renewed Jihad last week while speaking at a mosque.

Calls for investigations into JI’s activities have been renewed some even calling for new charges versus the cleric who many view as spiritual leader for at least a large faction of the JI organization. But others see more than what is playing – of unseen hands perhaps some from as far away Pakistan or Afghanistan or even within political circles in Indonesia as partly in play.

What is clear is that terrorism is again back in force with the sudden explosion of bombs and the attacks that make it a force to be reckoned with for now – one can only really say if JI is back if new attacks take place. Or if the bombs that blasted are a last hurrah of group that is largely lost a lot of its influence in mainstream Indonesia where this kind of sectarian violence led to many moderate Muslim’s rejection of violence and JI itself.

The same must be said here in the Philippines where most Muslim’s I know are aghast at the state of repeated violence in Mindanao and elsewhere in the country. But feel the misguided and radicalized elements involved need to be brought to justice – as by violence as history teaches us only brings more violence and a cycle of death and destruction that those who refuse to learn from history lessons fail to understand.