Jemaah Islamiya

Jemaah Islamiya (JI) is a radical Islamist group in Southeast Asia, operating independently but with significant funding from and cooperation with al-Qaeda. As with al-Qaeda, its declared goal is establishment of a caliphate.

Its leader is Abu Bakar Bashir, probably based in Indonesia but traveling for security. A deputy, Hambali, now a U.S. High Value Detainee, arranged contact in 1998 through Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Other detainees include Lillie. In 1999, Hambali, established a JI group in Karachi, called al-Ghuraba, which trained members and worked with al-Qaeda.

The group is associated with the attempted assassination of the Philippines ambassador to Indonesia, and the Christmas Eve bombing of 30 churches in 2000, planned the 2002 Bali bombings and the bombing of the Jakarta Marriott in 2003. JI members were to have participated in a cancelled suicide bombing of targets on the West Coast of the U.S., as a followup to the 9-11 attack in cooperation with al-Qaeda.