Islamic Group Branded Terrorists

The United States and Australia have circulated a report blaming Jemaah Islamiyah for several deadly bombings, and hope to have the Muslim organization declared a terrorist group by the United Nations.

The two countries hope a U.N. declaration that the group is allied with al Qaeda would help them launch an international campaign to isolate it and cut its financial support, said a Philippine official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The U.N. Security Council must approve the petition.

Later Wednesday, foreign ministry officials in Singapore and Japan said their governments would join in the effort. The request was to be made Wednesday in New York, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. State Department added the group to its own list of terror groups on Wednesday, making it a crime to contribute funds to it and barring members from entering the United States.

The group is suspected in the Oct. 12 bombing of a nightclub that killed more than 180 people on the Indonesian island of Bali, but Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a statement distributed to reporters, said the "United States does not wish to imply that we have come to a conclusion about responsibility for the devastating Bali bombings."

Jemaah Islamiyah's spiritual leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, who has denied any wrongdoing, was arrested last week on suspicion of involvement in several church bombings that killed 19 people in Indonesia two years ago.

"Abu Bakar Bashir has repeatedly denied the existence of Jemaah Islamiyah," said his lawyer, Achmed Michdan. "He rejects the allegation that he is connected to any terrorist group. Let the U.S. declare anything they want."

The confidential U.S.-Australian report details Jemaah Islamiyah's history and alleges it is linked to a number of attacks.

The group, which seeks to create an Islamic state encompassing Indonesia, Malaysia and the southern Philippines, "has cells operating throughout Southeast Asia," the two-page report said. A copy was obtained by The Associated Press.

Jemaah Islamiyah's "aim of replacing democratically elected governments by unlawful means poses a serious threat to individual countries and the peace and security" of the region, it said.

While it detailed the group's history and planned attacks, it added: "Much information that would further support this designation cannot be made public."

The report named Bashir, along with compatriots Fathur Rohman al Ghozi and Riduan bin Isamuddin, also known as Hambali.

The report, citing a plan called "Jihad Operations in Asia," said Jemaah Islamiyah plotted to bomb the American embassies in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in December 2001. Other targets included the diplomatic missions in Singapore, the report said.

The plot was foiled with the arrests of 13 alleged Jemaah Islamiyah members, according to the report.

Singaporean authorities said that in retaliation for the arrests, Jemaah Islamiyah "was planning to crash a plane into Changi international airport in Singapore," the report said.

The group "has both the capability and intent to conduct terrorist attacks and has perpetrated such acts in an indiscriminate manner against diplomatic, civilian and military targets across the region," it said.

Al Ghozi, who has been sentenced in the Philippines to 16 years in prison for illegal possession of explosives, has admitted helping plan a series of almost simultaneous bombings that killed 22 people in Manila on Dec. 30, 2000, the report said.

The report calls Hambali an al Qaeda member who arranged a January 2000 visit to Malaysia by several al Qaeda operatives, including two of the Sept. 11 hijackers. He remains at large.

U.S. counter-terrorism officials have said they believe Hambali helped plan a failed plot to bomb at least one American embassy in Southeast Asia to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

They said they learned of the plot from Omar al-Farouq, a suspected al-Qaida leader now in U.S. custody. The threats led to the temporary closure of embassies in Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he was confident the United Nations would support the call to declare Jemaah Islamiyah a terrorist group, on mounting evidence it played a role in the Bali bomb attack.

"I will be staggered if the United Nations refuses to list this (group) as a terrorist organization," Howard told Brisbane radio station 4BC on Wednesday.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's administration, a staunch ally of the U.S.-led global war on terrorism, supports the petition, her press secretary Ignacio Bunye said.