Indonesia cleric backs Islamic State

FE Team | Published: August 06, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

JAKARTA, Aug 5 (agencies):  Jailed Indonesian militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has pledged allegiance to jihadists who have overrun swathes of Iraq and claimed leadership of the world's Muslims, a radical group said Tuesday.
The news came as authorities in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, announced measures aimed at curbing growing support for the Islamic State (IS) group, including the blocking of websites that support them.
Indonesia has for years struggled with Islamist radical groups and has been hit by numerous militant attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.
A successful crackdown over the past decade has weakened many groups but authorities believe dozens of Indonesian radicals have headed to fight in Syria and Iraq, and fear they could revive networks on their return.
Authorities had already voiced suspicions that Bashir, regarded as the spiritual leader of militant Islam in Indonesia, was funding IS, which in June declared an "Islamic caliphate" in territory it controls across Iraq and Syria.
On Tuesday Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT), a radical group founded by Bashir, confirmed that the frail, bespectacled cleric had sworn allegiance to IS in a maximum-security prison on an island off Indonesia's Java several weeks ago.