Afghan war vet to lead Asian terror group

JAKARTA, March 2 (UPI) -- An obscure Indonesian militant trained in making bombs has taken over the leadership of Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, anti-terror officers say.

The appointment of Afghan war veteran Abu Dujana, 37, shows that the al-Qaida-linked terror group remains a threat despite the death in November of its top bomb maker, Malaysian Azahari Husin, the South China Morning Post reported Thursday.

Abu Dujana succeeds jailed militant Abu Rusdan, who replaced the fiery Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir following his 2002 arrest in connection with the Bali bombings in October that year, which killed 202 people.

Dujana, who once served as Rusdan's secretary, graduated from the Afghanistan Mujahedin Military Academy in 1991, the Post said.

Dujana's former teacher at the academy, Nasir Abas, told the newspaper that students were taught to use firearms and the basics of assembling bombs.

Nasir described Dujana as a man with leadership qualities who could inspire loyalty from his men, but was not hard or radical.

Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for all recent major bombings in Indonesia, including the Bali bombings in 2003 and 2005.