Latest Articles about Southeast Asia
Islamist Militants of the Philippines Restructure to Intensify the Anti-Government Jihad
As it has done many times before, Abu Sayyaf is showing its ability to adapt and survive in the wake of predictions of its demise. As recently as May, an Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson said that Abu Sayyaf would no longer have... MORE
Chasing the Professor: A Portrait of Jemaah Islamiyah’s Upik Lawanga
Taufik Buraga (a.k.a. Upik Lawanga) is a 34-year old high school-educated Indonesian jihadi from the small neighborhood of Tanah Runtuh, Poso on the island of Sulawesi (once known as Celebes). [1] He currently ranks as the foremost Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)-affiliated bomb expert. Since he set... MORE
September 2011 Briefs
FORMER AFGHAN MUJAHIDEEN LEADER KILLED IN SUICIDE BOMBING Former major mujahideen figure, one-time Afghan president, and current head of Hamid Karzai’s High Council for Peace Ustad (Professor) Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed in a suicide bombing at his home in Kabul’s relatively posh Wazir Akbar Khan... MORE
The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Future of the Peace Process in the Southern Philippines
The emergence of a new rebel movement under renegade Islamist commander Ameril Umbra Kato is threatening a 14-year-old peace process in the Muslim south Philippines. Though Kato’s Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) consists of only 100 to 200 men, their impact on the ongoing peace... MORE
Jihad in Bangladesh: Profiling Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami’s Maulana Shaykh Farid
Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) forces, the country’s elite anti-terror police, achieved a much awaited breakthrough barely within a week’s time in late April this year, when they apprehended three of the most wanted terror masterminds from different areas of the Dhaka Division. The RAB’s... MORE
Indonesia’s “Ghost Birds” Tackle Islamist Terrorists: A Profile of Densus 88
After the 2002 Bali bombings, Indonesia recognized that the main threat to national security came from regional terrorist networks whose leaders returned to Indonesia after Suharto fell from power in 1998. An elite counterterrorism unit, Densus 88 (Detasemen Khusus 88, or Special Detachment 88), was... MORE
Mumbai Outraged Once Again: India Blinks, Blames Homegrown Terror
Executive Summary:In the weeks following the July 13 bomb explosions in Mumbai, responsibility for the attacks has yet to be determined. Investigative agencies have not yet pinpointed a suspect nor has any terrorist group claimed the blasts as its own doing, perhaps in order to... MORE
Chinese Perceptions of U.S. Engagement in the South China Sea
In November 2002, China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) adopted a Declaration on the Conduct of Parties (DOC) in the South China Sea (SCS), laying a political foundation for the discussion of commercial cooperation between China and ASEAN countries as well... MORE
A Life on the Run: A Profile of Jemaah Islamiyah’s Marwan
Zulkifli bin Hir (a.k.a. Zulkifli Abdkhir), who goes most frequently by the alias Marwan, is the highest ranking of the 20-30 active Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorists in the Philippines. The Philippine government intensified its manhunt for Marwan on May 1, 2011 because he has the... MORE
Trial of Indonesia’s Abu Bakr Ba’asyir a Test of Indonesia’s Counterterrorism Resolve
Reputed Jema’ah Islamiya leader Abu Bakr Ba’asyir told the Jamestown Foundation in 2005 that “the highest deed in Islam is jihad” (see Spotlight on Terror, December 16, 2005). After being arrested in August 2010, the Indonesian cleric is now on trial, facing charges under Indonesia’s... MORE