Scanned photographs of captured Indonesian woman, Istiada BT. H. Oemar Sovie alias Amenah Toha and her two children. Istiada, arrested by Filipino troops in the southern island of Jolo, is the wife of Jemaah Islamiya militant Dulmatin, who is one of Asia's most wanted terror leader whose group is tied to al-Qaeda network. Indonesian authorities has tagged Dulmatin as one of the masterminds behind the 2002 Bali nightclubs and the 2003 JW Marriot Hotel bombings in Jakarta. (Mindanao Examnier)ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 06 Oct) – The Philippine military on Friday has confirmed the arrest of an Indonesian wife of wanted Jemaah Islamiya bomber, Dulmatin, in a raid at a terrorist hideout in the southern island of Jolo.
"We are confirming the arrest of the woman, Istiada Bt. H. Oemar Sovie, alias Amenah Toha, who is Dulmatin's wife. She admitted to be the wife of the terrorist leader Dulmatin and she is being interrogated in Zamboanga City.
"We are confirming the arrest of the woman, Istiada Bt. H. Oemar Sovie, alias Amenah Toha, who is Dulmatin's wife. She admitted to be the wife of the terrorist leader Dulmatin and she is being interrogated in Zamboanga City.
Troops are still tracking down Dulmatin on the island (of Jolo)," Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, told the Mindanao Examiner by phone from Manila.
He said the woman was arrested in Jolo’s Patikul town in a pre-dawn raid on Tuesday. The raid also led the arrest of an Abu Sayyaf militant Nadzmir Abduraji Amad in the neighboring town of Talipao.
He said Filipino soldiers captured the woman who was with her two children in a raid that originally targeted Dulmatin. "Our operation against Dulmatin and the other terrorists will continue until they are captured," Bacarro said.
Security forces are also pursuing Dulmatin's companion, Umar Patek, a Malaysian JI member, and leaders of the local terror group, the Abu Sayyaf, headed by Khadaffy Janjalani.
Bacarro said the woman is being investigated whether she had a role in Dulmatin's terror activities. Both Dulmatin and Patek were tagged by Jakarta as behind the 2002 Bali bombings. Dulmatin is one of Asia’s most wanted Jemaah Islamiya leaders.
He said the woman admitted to military interrogators that she is the wife of the 37-year old Dulmatin, also known as Amar Bin Usman.
Dulmatin’s wife also said that she sneaked by boat to the southern Philippine island of Tawi-Tawi from Malaysia in August 2003 and was fetched by Azhar, a Jemaah Islamiya militant, and brought to Jolo island to join the group of the wanted terror leader and the Abu Sayyaf.
The Jemaah Islamiya is also believed as behind the 2004 bombing of a Filipino ferry off Manila Bay that killed 116 people-the second-worst terrorist attack in Southeast Asia after the 2002 Bali bombs.
The group was largely blamed by Philippine authorities in a series of bombings in Manila in December 2000 that killed 22 and wounded more than 100 people. One of the bombs exploded at an open square less than a hundred meters from the U.S. Embassy.
The U.S. has offered a $10 million bounty for the capture of Dulmatin, an electronics specialist with training in al-Qa'eda camps in Afghanistan. He is a senior figure in the Jemaah Islamiya terrorist organization and is believed to have been one of the masterminds behind the bombings of two night clubs in Bali, which killed 202 people, mostly Australians, including seven U.S. citizens.
Dulmatin fled to Mindanao in the southern Philippines soon after the August 2003 bombing of the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta. There, he is one of four top JI leaders—including Umar Patek, Zulkifli bin Hir and Abdul Rahman Ayub—who trained members of JI and the Abu Sayyaf group in Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) camps in the Philippines, said Zachary Abusa, an Asian terror expert.
In 2005, Dulmatin and Umar Patek ordered Abdullah Sonata, a JI operative in Central Java who was arrested in conjunction with the September 4, 2004 Australian Embassy bombing, to dispatch additional JI members to Mindanao for training. He has also called for JI suicide bombers to be sent to the Philippines for operations.
Abusa said Dulmatin, along with Zulkarnaen and Abu Rusdan, was designated for involvement in terrorism by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in April, and placed on the UN's 1267 Committee for terrorist financing in early 2005. (Mindanao Examiner)
He said the woman was arrested in Jolo’s Patikul town in a pre-dawn raid on Tuesday. The raid also led the arrest of an Abu Sayyaf militant Nadzmir Abduraji Amad in the neighboring town of Talipao.
He said Filipino soldiers captured the woman who was with her two children in a raid that originally targeted Dulmatin. "Our operation against Dulmatin and the other terrorists will continue until they are captured," Bacarro said.
Security forces are also pursuing Dulmatin's companion, Umar Patek, a Malaysian JI member, and leaders of the local terror group, the Abu Sayyaf, headed by Khadaffy Janjalani.
Bacarro said the woman is being investigated whether she had a role in Dulmatin's terror activities. Both Dulmatin and Patek were tagged by Jakarta as behind the 2002 Bali bombings. Dulmatin is one of Asia’s most wanted Jemaah Islamiya leaders.
He said the woman admitted to military interrogators that she is the wife of the 37-year old Dulmatin, also known as Amar Bin Usman.
Dulmatin’s wife also said that she sneaked by boat to the southern Philippine island of Tawi-Tawi from Malaysia in August 2003 and was fetched by Azhar, a Jemaah Islamiya militant, and brought to Jolo island to join the group of the wanted terror leader and the Abu Sayyaf.
The Jemaah Islamiya is also believed as behind the 2004 bombing of a Filipino ferry off Manila Bay that killed 116 people-the second-worst terrorist attack in Southeast Asia after the 2002 Bali bombs.
The group was largely blamed by Philippine authorities in a series of bombings in Manila in December 2000 that killed 22 and wounded more than 100 people. One of the bombs exploded at an open square less than a hundred meters from the U.S. Embassy.
The U.S. has offered a $10 million bounty for the capture of Dulmatin, an electronics specialist with training in al-Qa'eda camps in Afghanistan. He is a senior figure in the Jemaah Islamiya terrorist organization and is believed to have been one of the masterminds behind the bombings of two night clubs in Bali, which killed 202 people, mostly Australians, including seven U.S. citizens.
Dulmatin fled to Mindanao in the southern Philippines soon after the August 2003 bombing of the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta. There, he is one of four top JI leaders—including Umar Patek, Zulkifli bin Hir and Abdul Rahman Ayub—who trained members of JI and the Abu Sayyaf group in Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) camps in the Philippines, said Zachary Abusa, an Asian terror expert.
In 2005, Dulmatin and Umar Patek ordered Abdullah Sonata, a JI operative in Central Java who was arrested in conjunction with the September 4, 2004 Australian Embassy bombing, to dispatch additional JI members to Mindanao for training. He has also called for JI suicide bombers to be sent to the Philippines for operations.
Abusa said Dulmatin, along with Zulkarnaen and Abu Rusdan, was designated for involvement in terrorism by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in April, and placed on the UN's 1267 Committee for terrorist financing in early 2005. (Mindanao Examiner)
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