Indonesian Jihad Camps Revealed

Terrorist camps run by al-Qaida related Islamist groups in Indonesia started being used to train foreign "armed jihad" recruits from Europe two years ago, according to documents lodged at Madrid's national court.

The Spanish court documents reveal that at least one militant Islamist group which normally sent members for training at al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan had started diverting recruits to camps in Indonesia.

The documents, part of an investigation into an alleged al-Qaida recruitment and support unit based in Madrid, point to an unnamed training camp in Indonesia that started welcoming foreign "jihad" fighters in 2000.

Two of the people allegedly involved in sending people to the camp were Indonesian militant Islamist Parlindugan Siregar, alias Parlin, and a Madrid-based Syrian, Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, alias Abu Dadah.

Abu Dadah, alleged to be the Madrid group's leader, is suspected of "recruiting mojahedin in Spain so they can be sent to training camps in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Indonesia", according to the documents obtained by the Guardian and signed by investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzon.

Abu Dadah, who was arrested by Spanish police last November, is also formally suspected of involvement with the September 11 plotters.

Parlin, who had lived in Madrid, is an alleged member of Indonesia's Laskar Jihad movement. Laskar Jihad is a Java-based paramilitary organisation whose leader, Jaffar Umar Thalib, is thought to have close ties to the former regime of Indonesian dictator General Suharto.

Police believe that photographs they found of Abu Dadah firing a revolver at a shooting range were taken at the Indonesian camp, whose location is not revealed in the court documents.

Yusuf Galan, a Spanish convert to Islam and alleged member of Abu Dahdah's group, travelled to Indonesia for training in July 2001. "He was sent to Indonesia to carry out a military-terrorist training course," the court documents allege.

When police arrested Galan in November they also seized a .22 pistol, a .22 rifle, a pump-action shotgun and a bulletproof vest from his Madrid home.

"There are photos which seems to be taken in Indonesia where Yusuf Galan is seen together with some oriental people in a (training) camp," the documents state.

Laskar Jihad is known to have run a training camp for local recruits at a village called Munjul, near the town of Bogor on Java, but that camp was reportedly closed down in April 2000.