Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012
PETALING JAYA - Those recruited into terror groups are now trained at the front lines of action, a former Jemaah Islamiah (JI) member said.
"They all train at the place of action now. How can they train here or in Indonesia or Thailand?
"Those were the old ways. Now security (in these countries) is too tight," added the former JI militant, who spoke to The Star on the condition of anonymity.
He said getting into a militant cell group was "like applying to join an Ivy League school" in that the interested party had to approach the group and prove themselves.
The former militant, who had been linked to the AL-Qaeda, added that insurrectionist groups now moved in small cells and function alone, teaming up with larger factions only at the place of action.
He was commenting on the recent detentions in Lebanon of two Malaysians suspected to be suicide bombers linked to AL-Qaeda.
One of them is believed to have links with a top AL-Qaeda leader in Yemen, Jamal AL-Badawi, who is accused of the 2000 bombing of United States navy destroyer USS Cole in Yemen.
Regarding the pair, identified as Muhamad Razin Sharhan Mustafa Kamal, 21, and Razif Mohd Ariff, 30, the former insurgent said: "I don't think they want to become suicide bombers.
"New guys usually aren't given that task. Got to start from the bottomlah," he said.
The former militant, who was once detained under the Internal Security Act, described the pair as "brothers-in-arms" and "guys with good intentions."
He said in keeping with the times, many militant groups now recruited on Facebook.
He was surprised, however, that the two had been able to leave the country, claiming the Special Branch normally has information on those suspected of militant actions.
The former militant said insurrectionists frequently joined humanitarian missions to get to their destinations. They are not soldiers of fortune," he said, alleging the sometimes-violent actions happened because of "injustice to Muslims" and that the so-called jihadists "just want to protect their brothers and sisters."
“If they die, they go to Heaven,” he said.
