Karina M. Tehusijarana and Moses Ompusunggu in Jakarta

Multiple deadly bombings in East Java and the brutal killing of six Indonesian police officers at the Mobile Brigade headquarters (Mako Brimob) in Depok, West Java, which took place within less than a week, have catapulted Jamaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD) into notoriety.

JAD, the largest Indonesian terror group pledging allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group, has played a significant role in the terror attacks.

“[The attacks] are connected to JAD, which is the main supporter of ISIS in Indonesia and was founded by Aman Abdurrahman,” National Police chief General Tito Karnavian has confirmed.

A family of suicide bombers linked to JAD attacked three churches across Surabaya on Sunday morning, killing at least 12 people and injuring 41 others.

Two attempted bombings were reported at two other churches in the East Java capital.

Later the same day, another explosion was reported at a low-cost apartment in the neighboring city of Sidoarjo. The latest attack took place on Monday morning, when a bomb exploded at the Surabaya Police headquarters.

In total, 25 people, including 13 suicide bombers, were killed and dozens injured in the series of bombings in Surabaya, which resembled the pattern of attacks carried out by the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) movement at dozens of churches across Indonesia at the start of the millennium.

JI is said to have renounced violent jihad, leaving pro-IS group JAD as the most lethal terror group in the archipelago.

But what is JAD? And how influential is its founder, Aman?

ISIS supporters
But what is JAD? And how influential is its founder, Aman?

The Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) calls JAD “the largest faction of ISIS supporters in Indonesia”, consisting of followers of pro-IS ideologue Aman and Jamaah Anshorul Tauhid (JAT) leader Abu Bakar Baasyir.

The term JAD, which means “Partisans of the [Islamic] State Group,” was previously a generic term referring to anyone who had sworn allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but is now specifically used by a group that was formed in Malang in November 2015 and has chosen Aman as its ideological head.

Aman was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2004 after a failed terror plot in Depok, West Java, and was released for good behavior in 2008.

Soon after his release, Aman collaborated with Ba’asyir to form a joint terrorism training camp in Aceh in 2010 that united the different terrorist groups, leading to another prison sentence of nine years.

Despite being behind bars, Aman has been accused of involvement in several other terrorist attacks across Indonesia, including masterminding the deadly January 14, 2016, Thamrin attacks in Central Jakarta.

The firebrand cleric, who graduated from the Institute for Islamic and Arabic Studies (LIPIA), was also allegedly involved in the May 25, 2017, bombings in Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta, that killed three policemen.

Aman and his followers believe that all security forces of an ansharut thoghut (idolatrous state) should be considered kafir (non-believers), whose property can be seized and blood can be shed.

Syrian obligation
After the declaration of the Islamic State by al-Baghdadi at Mosul, Iraq in June 2014, Aman believed that the Hegira, or emigration to Syria, was the obligation of all ISIS supporters.

Shortly before the 2016 Thamrin attacks Aman issued a fatwa that was widely circulated among extremist groups:

“Emigrate to the Islamic State and if you cannot emigrate, then wage jihad with spirit wherever you are, and if you cannot wage war or you lack the courage to do so, then contribute your wealth to those who are willing to do so. And if you cannot contribute, then urge others to undertake jihad. And if you cannot do that, then what is the meaning of your loyalty oath [bai’at]?”

The terror inmates who rioted last Tuesday evening at the Mako Brimob detention center reportedly demanded to speak with Aman, who is being held at the facility, during initial negotiations with police officers, a demand that the police later met.

The police, Tito said, suspected that the Surabaya bombings were motivated by the police’s actions in arresting leaders of JAD.

“They reacted [to the arrests] by carrying out retaliatory attacks, such as that which occurred at Mako Brimob.”

The terrorists’ decision to launch the attacks in Surabaya, Tito said, may have been related to the recent conviction of the leader of JAD’s East Java chapter, Zaenal Anshari, for smuggling weapons to Indonesian militants in the southern Philippines.

Zaenal is the second-in-command in JAD after Aman.

Orchestrated attacks
The incidents in Depok and Surabaya were part of a number of recent terror attacks or attempted attacks allegedly orchestrated by JAD-linked militants.

Residents stand next to human body parts at a scene where two bombers launched an attack at Kampung Melayu bus terminal in East Jakarta on May 25, 2017. ADEK BERRY / AFPResidents stand next to human body parts at a scene where two bombers launched an attack at Kampung Melayu bus terminal in East Jakarta on May 25, 2017. ADEK BERRY / AFP (AFP/Adek Berry)

Since the Thamrin bombings in January 2016, counterterror officials have thwarted numerous attempted attacks by suspects affiliated with JAD in various regions across Indonesia.

In January 2017, the US State Department said it had designated JAD as a terrorist group, which in practice prohibits US citizens from being involved with it.

The deadly riot at Mako Brimob, which led to a 36-hour standoff between terror inmates and security forces, and the string of bombings in East Java, may have shown that the group has ramped up its capability to launch terror attacks.

Karina M. Tehusijarana and Moses Ompusunggu are reporters of The Jakarta Post.

Police and military forces in the Philippines today vowed to “bring the criminals to justice”, following the beheading yesterday of one of two Canadians kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf last September, reports Rappler.

The Abu Sayyaf militants “cold-blooded murder” has sparked fears for more than 20 other captives they are holding on remote islands.

Rappler’s Paterno Esmaquel II reported that the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) today condemned the “inhuman” beheading.

“The DFA strongly condemns this cruel and inhuman act perpetrated by the Abu Sayyaf group, and reiterates its strong resolve to oppose terrorism in all of its forms,” the statement said.

The man’s head was found yesterday dumped outside city hall on Jolo, a mountainous and jungle-clad island in the far south of the Philippines that is a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf jihadist group.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Filipino authorities identified the victim as John Ridsdel, a retiree in his late 60s who was kidnapped 7 months ago from  on board a yacht, along with another Canadian man, a Norwegian and a Filipina woman, reported Rappler.

“This was an act of cold-blooded murder and responsibility rests with the terrorist group who took him hostage,” Trudeau said in Ottawa.

The 4 were abducted at a marina near the Mindanao capital of Davao, more than 500 km from Jolo, as part of a wave of abductions by the Abu Sayyaf, a loose network of militants who for more than two decades have run a lucrative kidnapping-for-ransom business.

The other three were fellow Canadian Robert Hall, Hall’s partner Marites Flor, and Norwegian resort manager Kjartan Sekkingstad.

Six weeks after the abduction, gunmen released a video of their hostages held in a jungle setting, demanding the equivalent of $21 million each for the safe release of the 3 foreigners, reports Rappler.

The men were forced to beg for their lives on camera, and similar videos posted over several months showed the hostages looking increasingly frail.

In the most recent video, Ridsdel said his captors would kill him on April 25 if a lower ransom of $6.4 million was not paid.

Hours after the deadline passed, police in the Philippines said two people on a motorbike dropped the head near city hall on Jolo, which is about 1000 km from Manila.

The beheading happened on the day President Benigno Aquino III ordered military troops to intensify their operations against the kidnappers in Sulu.

Ridsdel, a former journalist, oil executive and sailing enthusiast, had moved to the Philippines to manage a gold mine prior to retiring.

Hunt for militants
Trudeau said Canada was working with the Philippines to pursue and prosecute the killers, and that efforts were under way to obtain the release of the other hostages.

In the Philippines, security forces said they were setting up checkpoints across Jolo in an effort to block the movements of the gunmen.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ricardo Marquez said authorities would be using the full force of the law “to bring these criminals to justice.”

“The developments on the ground are very dynamic, very tactical, but the strategic guidance was to go neutralize them [and] make sure the lives of the remaining hostages are not put in danger,” he added.

In a joint statement, the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines vowed: “There will be no let up in the determined efforts of the joint task group’s intensive military and law enforcement operations to neutralize these lawless elements.”

However, Philippine security forces have made similar statements many times against the Abu Sayyaf and often failed to achieve their objectives.

Most recently, 18 Filipino soldiers were killed on April 9 as they waged a day-long battle against Abu Sayyaf gunmen on Basilan, an island neighbouring Jolo that is also one of the group’s strongholds.

The Abu Sayyaf is a radical offshoot of a Muslim separatist insurgency in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines that has claimed more than 100,000 lives since the 1970s.

Kidnapping spree

Authorities say the group is currently holding more than 20 foreigners after a recent wave of abductions. (READ: Waiting to be freed: 22 foreign hostages in Sulu)

These include 18 Indonesian and Malaysian sailors who were abducted from tugboats near the southern Philippines over the past month.

The Abu Sayyaf is also believed to be holding a Dutch bird-watcher kidnapped in 2012, while it recently released a retired Italian priest after six months in captivity.

One of the Abu Sayyaf’s biggest recent windfalls is believed to have come in 2014 when it claimed to have been paid more than $5 million for the release of a German couple who were abducted from aboard their yacht in the southwest Philippines.

The Abu Sayyaf’s leaders have recently declared allegiance to the Islamic State group that is causing carnage in the Middle East and has carried out deadly attacks in Europe.

However, analysts say the Abu Sayyaf is mainly focused on getting money through its kidnappings, rather than waging an ideological war.

The United States deployed special forces advisers to provide training and intelligence to Filipino troops from 2002 to 2014, which led to the killing or arrest of many Abu Sayyaf leaders.

However the Abu Sayyaf, which is believed to have hundreds of armed followers, has since re-emerged as a major threat.

• Waiting to be freed: 22 hostages