Background Story

Where are Jemaah Islamiah's top figures?

AN Indonesian-led crackdown on Jemaah Islamiah (JI) has dealt the South-east Asian Islamic militant network several major blows over recent years, although some members believed responsible for deadly attacks remain at large.

Here is an overview of the fate of some of the best-known members of the group which aims to establish an Islamic state and has attacked Western targets in South-east Asia.

At large:

Mas Selamat bin Kastari - The alleged Singapore Jemaah Islamiah leader escaped from a prison in the city-state in February and was said to be behind a plot, never implemented, to hijack a plane and crash it into Singapore's Changi Airport.

Singapore police believe Mas Selamat is still in the country, but some analysts fear he has already fled to Indonesia where he could hook up with other JI members.

Noordin Mohammad Top - Accused of masterminding a series of deadly bombings including the second Bali blasts in 2005 that killed more than 20 people, Malaysian-born Noordin is said to be JI's leading strategist and a key financier. Indonesian police say they have often come close to capturing him.

Umar Patek - Wanted for the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people, JI member Patek is thought to have fled to the Philippines' restive southern islands in 2003 with fellow accused Dulmatin. Both have been working with members of Abu Sayyaf, a Philippine group responsible for the country's worst terror attack, a 2004 ferry bombing that killed over 100 people.

Captured:

Abu Dujana - Indonesia's most-wanted man when he was captured in central Java in June last year, Abu Dujana was wanted in connection with bombings including the 2004 attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta. He is on trial for authorising the shipping of explosives to the religiously divided Sulawesi region of Poso and for harbouring fugitive militants, but is not charged with a specific bombing attack.

Police say Dujana headed a new JI military wing, called Sariyah or military company.

Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali - One of a number of hardcore militants believed to have joined the group in Malaysia, Hambali was accused of planning the 2002 Bali bombings and captured in 2003. The Afghanistan-war veteran dubbed 'the Osama bin Laden of South-east Asia' was seen as the main link between JI and Al-Qaeda. He is now being held in Guantanamo Bay.

Mohamad Baehaqi, alias Latif - Philippine police arrested Latif, the Indonesian national they say is a JI member linked to bombings in 2006 which killed 20 people, in a Muslim rebel hideout on Feb 17 2008.

Captured, convicted, and on death row for 2002 Bali bombings:

Amrozi - The mechanic from Lamongan, East Java, was dubbed the 'smiling bomber' because of his constant grin during the Bali bombing trial. He was the first of the three JI members on death row to be arrested by Indonesian police in November 2002, and the first to be sentenced to death, in August 2003.

Imam Samudra - The alleged chief planner of the Bali bombings, described by police as a computer expert from Serang in western Java, confessed he planned the blasts when arrested in late November 2002. He was sentenced to death in September 2003.

Muklas, also known as Ali Gufron - Amrozi's older brother, the Islamic teacher Muklas was arrested in central Java in early December 2002. Accused of being operational chief of JI's South-east Asian branch, he said he did not play a direct role in the Bali attack and retracted a confession in June 2003, saying he was tortured into confessing by interrogators. He remained defiant throughout his trial.

Captured and released:

Abu Bakar Bashir - Accused of co-founding JI with the late Abdullah Sungkar after they fled into exile in Malaysia in the early 1980s; security officials and experts have said Bashir was the group's spiritual leader, but he has consistently denied being part of it. The bearded preacher of Yemeni descent led an Islamic Youth movement before setting up the so-called 'heart of JI', the Al-Mukmin boarding school in Solo, Central Java, in the 1970s with Sungkar. Jailed for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombings, he was released in June 2006 and later cleared of wrongdoing.

Deceased:

Abdullah Sungkar - After he was alleged to have helped co-found JI, cleric Abdullah went to Afghanistan to participate in the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s, laying the foundations for JI's links with Al-Qaeda. When Abdullah died in 1999, Bashir became the group's leader, some experts say.

Azahari Husin - A British-trained former university professor who became a master bombmaker for JI and allegedly played key roles in some of the most deadly bomb attacks that struck Indonesia this decade, the bespectacled Malaysian, nicknamed the Demolition Man, was killed in a shootout with anti-terror police commandos in the East Java district of Batu in 2005.

Uncertain:

Dulmatin - Believed to have fled to the Philippines in 2003 after being implicated in the 2002 Bali blasts, Dulmatin eluded authorities for years before he was reported wounded in a military raid on Jan 31, 2008. In February the Philippine military said they may have exhumed his body, although DNA tests are being conducted. -- REUTERS

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