BUB: Around the World With the Terrorists

The counter-terror raids are stepping up in Indonesia.

For more than a week, there has been a flurry of counter-terrorism raids across the country. This comes just ten days before President Barack Obama is set to make his first visit to Indonesia since spending part of his elementary school years in Jakarta.
Initially the police focused their attention on a 50-strong group of militants that was allegedly conducting paramilitary training at the foot of a mountain on the border of Pidie and Aceh Besar districts in Aceh province. As of this week, the police had killed or arrested nearly 20 persons tied to this group. They have also confiscated a small number of assault rifles, military uniforms purchased in Malaysia, and videotapes of various deceased Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) members.
Although the police investigation in Aceh is ongoing, it would appear like several of the members were not ethnic Acehnese and could instead be traced to the island of Java. This is an interesting development, as the Acehnese have traditionally exhibited fierce animosity toward those from Java, and many have found it hard to believe that the two sides have now put aside their long-standing differences to conduct risky paramilitary training in a relatively populated area of Aceh. Others have noted that the Acehnese, while pious and prone toward separatism, have rarely shown any radical tendencies along the Wahhabist lines pushed by JI.

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Hamas has released a British journalist who they detained for daring to tell the truth about human shields and smuggling tunnels.

Gaza's Hamas rulers on Thursday released a British journalist held for a month amid allegations he had endangered the territory's security.
A smiling Paul Martin was dropped off by Hamas guards near a Gaza crossing into Israel. He was handed over to British diplomats who escorted him out of the territory.
Martin, a freelance journalist, was the first foreigner to have been arrested since Hamas overran Gaza in 2007.
His detention raised concern among international organizations with staff in the territory that Hamas was adopting a more confrontational approach, after initially going out of its way to avoid friction with foreigners.
Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas leader, said Martin was suspected of serious security offenses and would not be able to return to Gaza. No charges were filed against him.
Zahar suggested Thursday that Martin's activities as a journalist brought about his arrest.
The Hamas leader alleged that Martin "was working on defaming the image of the Palestinian people by saying that they smuggle weapons through tunnels," Zahar said, referring to hundreds of border tunnels that bypass the blockade of Gaza imposed by Israel and Egypt.
The tunnels bring in commercial goods, but are widely believed to be a conduit for cash and weapons as well.
Zahar complained that Martin was also working on a story about the alleged use of civilians as human shields by Hamas.

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The Brits are prosecuting a British Airways employee on terrorism charges.

A British Airways employee appeared in court Thursday on charges of preparing to commit terrorism and funding it.
Rajib Karim, 30, is charged with two counts of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts and fundraising for the purpose of terrorism, London's Metropolitan Police Service said Wednesday. He appeared in Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday.
Karim, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is an information technology developer for British Airways, authorities have said.
The alleged offenses took place between April 13, 2006, and February 25, 2010, "with the intention of committing acts of terrorism outside the UK or assisting another to commit such acts," police said.
Authorities said Karim -- who was born in Bangladesh and is now a British citizen -- collected money in Britain and sent it to Yemen and Bangladesh to fund terrorist activities.

By: Brant