Indonesian police uncovered a recently abandoned jungle training camp where militants taught bomb-making skills to scores of extremists, security officials said Wednesday. Instructors at the camp in Maluku province — the scene of bloody fighting between Muslim and Christians from 1999 to 2002 — were graduates of terrorists academies in Afghanistan and the Philippines, said police Lt. Col. Leonidas Braksan.
There were no indications that graduates of the camp were among those who planned or carried out the Oct. 1 bombings on three crowded restaurants on Bali island that killed 23 people, including three attackers, he said. The isolated camp deep in the jungle had been running for several years and was attended by militants from all over Indonesia, he said, showing how terrorists have been able to maintain training networks despite a nationwide crackdown. Police raided the camp on Seram Island earlier this month after receiving a tip off from recently arrested militants, said Braksan. "They were teaching the tactics of war, including using weapons and making bombs," Braksan said. |