Extremists descend on village
2008-11-04 09:08
Tenggulun, Indonesia - Islamic extremists descended on the village of two bombers behind deadly 2002 attacks on the Indonesian island of Bali on Tuesday in a show of defiance against their impending execution.
Around 30 skullcap-wearing radicals arrived by convoy at dawn in the sleepy coastal village of condemned bombers Amrozi, 47, and Mukhlas, 48, chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great).
Brothers Amrozi and Mukhlas and another radical, 38-year-old Imam Samudra, are due to face the firing squad imminently over nightclub bombings that killed 202 people and are blamed on the militant Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) network.
The radicals from the Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT) group of JI-linked cleric Abu Bakar Bashir denounced the impending executions as "murder" and promised hundreds more people would come in support of the bombers if they are executed.
"We reject the executions, they are murder. They were carrying out jihad (holy war) in the way of Islam," said Mujazzin Marzuki, a JAT leader.
"Don't wake the wild, cruel tiger from its sleep," he said.
Black flags with Arabic inscriptions bearing the name of God and the Prophet Mohammed were strung up in an Islamic boarding school run by relatives of the bombers as dozens of curious villagers looked on.
A brother of the bombers, Jafar Shoddiq, called on Muslims everywhere to support the bombers to prevent retribution from God.
"There are many more that will come today. Those from foreign countries like Malaysia will come. All Muslims besides those who support us will come without being invited," he said.
Shoddiq then shouted: "Raise your voice... raise your voice to prevent disaster from God!"
Visiting extremists and other supporters crowded into the school mosque and prostrated themselves in prayer together with brothers of the bombers.
Security has been boosted across Indonesia over fears of reprisal attacks by supporters of the bombers on government and Western targets.
The US and Australian embassies in the capital Jakarta received bomb threats on Tuesday but searches failed to turn up any bombs.
- AFP