INTENSIVE POLICE OPERATIONS STRIKE BLOW AGAINST

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001318

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP, S/CT, DS, CA
NSC FOR J. BADER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/10/2019
TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL PINS ASEC ID
SUBJECT: INTENSIVE POLICE OPERATIONS STRIKE BLOW AGAINST
TERRORISTS

REF: A. OP CENTER - JAKARTA/J.NOVAK 08-09-09 TELECON

B. JAKARTA 1315 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: DCM Ted Osius, reasons 1.4(b+d).


1. (S) SUMMARY: Indonesian police operations against
suspected terrorist safe houses in Central Java and on the
outskirts of Jakarta, August 7-8, mark an important success
in efforts to eliminate the terrorist threat posed by the
Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) splinter group led by Noordin M. Top.
Despite media reports that Top himself was killed in the
Central Java raid, however, it looks likely that he remains
on the run. While the raids damaged the capabilities of
Top's organization, it remains capable of carrying out
attacks. GOI contacts have underscored to us that they will
continue to press the anti-terror effort hard. END SUMMARY.

RAIDS IN CENTRAL JAVA AND NEAR JAKARTA


2. (S) Indonesian police carried out intensive
counter-terrorist operations, August 7-8. As additional
details emerge about the raids and their aftermath, doubts
have emerged over whether terrorist leader Noordin M. Top was
in fact killed. Indonesian and international media reported
widely that Top, a Malaysian national and the apparent
mastermind behind the July 17 bombings in Jakarta, was killed
during a raid on a safe house in Temanggung, Central Java, by
police counterterrorism squad Detachment-88.


3. (S) Indonesian officials have since been careful to tamp
down on speculation that Top is dead, instead cautioning that
it may take up to a week or more for DNA testing to prove
conclusively whether the suspect killed was in fact Top. A
number of analysts outside the government have stated
publicly that they believe Top was not killed. Privately,
Mission contacts within the police and elsewhere have told us
there is a strong likelihood that the suspect killed was not
Top but rather a separate suspect in the July 17 bombings.


4. (C) Central Java has been the site of a large-scale
manhunt for Top and others suspected of involvement in the
July 17 Jakarta bombings (ref b). The siege and gun battle
in Temanggung in the heart of Central Java, followed the
arrest in that city earlier in the day of the safe house's
owner and two other alleged Noordin Top accomplices. Gunfire
broke out late in the afternoon of July 17, and the ensuing
siege, much of which was covered live on national television,
lasted until the following morning.


5. (S) Concurrent with the siege in Temanggung, police
raided a house in Bekasi on the outskirts of Jakarta, killing
two suspects (identified as fugitive terrorists AIR Setyawan
and Eko Peyang, aka Eko Joko Sarjono) and seizing about 500
kg. of explosives. Indonesian police have stated publicly
that the explosives were intended to be used in an attack on
President Yudhoyono following the August 17 Independence Day
ceremonies. Security has been raised at the Palace and the
private residence of the President located in West Java as a
cautionary measure. Privately, Mission contacts confirm that
they believe there was a plot against the President, but that
it remains unclear whether the plot was intended to be
carried out at the Presidential Palace (as claimed by the
GOI) or elsewhere.


6. (S) Details remain sketchy, but there were also other
police operations in recent days, in addition to those in
Central Java and Bekasi.

GOI MAKES PROGRESS IN ANTI-TERROR EFFORT


7. (S) The GOI can take pride in the success of the raids.
Regardless of whether Top was killed in the Temanggung siege,
that operation--together with the police action in
Bekasi--struck a significant blow against Top's JI splinter
group. The police operations clearly disrupted his
organization, heading off an apparent immediate threat
against the President, and removing a large amount of
explosives from the hands of terrorists. All that said,
while the raids damaged the capabilities of Top's
organization, it remains capable of carrying out attacks.


8. (S) In the meantime, the GOI effort to find and capture
the rest of the terrorists moves forward. Astari Daenuwy, an
international affairs assistant to the President, told Pol/C
that the GOI "would not rest on its laurels, but was

JAKARTA 00001318 002 OF 002


committed to ending the threat posed by the terrorists."
Adnan Buyung Nasution, Legal Affairs Member of the
President's Advisory Council, noted to poloff that the raids
should also "provide psychological and political momentum"
for Indonesian police counterterrorism forces, who in
addition to coping with the July 17 bombings, had been facing
public allegations of infighting in recent weeks.

HUME