JI, Al-Qaeda regrouping in SEA

THE regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) is now regrouping with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden funding efforts to strengthen its forces in Southeast Asia.

Maj. Gen. Thawip Netniyom, director of the Royal Thai Army Office for Policy and Plans, said the JI is consolidating what remains of its forces after its ranking leaders have been neutralized and arrested by regional security forces.

He said Bin Laden continues to finance the JI to put it back as a potent terrorist force in the region.

"Without Osama bin Laden, the JI would not have any other source of funds," Thawip stressed.

Thawip was the topnotcher of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1981. He was sent to the PMA for training by the Thai government as a scholar.

Thawip downplayed reports that the Jakarta-based international terrorist group has extended its operations in Thailand.

Thawip said the JI mainly operates in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.

The JI has been responsible for a series of bombings and similar attacks in the Philippines and Indonesia for the past years. Known JI militants take advantage of the loose security in the sea boundaries of the four countries.

Indonesia has been considered as the main base of the JI. Singapore is known as their financial hub and Malaysia as the staging center of its terror operations.

The JI trains its operatives in the Philippines, particularly in the remote jungles of Mindanao and some of its islands through the help of the notorious Abu Sayyaf.