Jakarta, May 28: An alleged Bali bomber and member of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group said today he had spent six months instructing Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines in combat skills.
Mubarok, alias Utomo Pamungkas, was the second Bali
suspect and JI member to testify today in the treason and
terrorism trial of Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.
Their evidence shed new light on the regional connections
and workings of JI. The group is accused of staging last
October's Bali blasts that killed 202 people and a string of
other attacks.
Mubarok and Ali Imron said they either believed or were
told that Bashir leads the shadowy group, as prosecutors
allege.
Mubarok said he had studied the use of weapons,
explosives and tactics during "holidays" in Pakistan from
1991-94.
When he moved on to Malaysia in 1994 he met a man called
Zulkarnaen - who is still being hunted for the Bali blasts-
and Abdullah Sungkar. Police say Sungkar co-founded JI with
Bashir.
Mubarok said he took an oath of loyalty to Sungkar which
stated: "I am ready to follow my leader as long as my leader
does not take me into the path of sin."
But it was not until four years later that he was told by
a man called Mustofa that he had actually joined a group
called Jemaah Islamiyah back in 1994.
Bureau Report
