Umar Patek [Image Republika]

WASHINGTON - U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday (16 / 8) announced sanctions against three leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah group. All three launch deadly bombings blamed on the Southeast Asia region.

The department called Umar Patek, Abdul Rahim Ba'asyir and Muhammad Jibril Abdul Rahman as a key figure associated with Jemaah Islamiyah militant groups including Alqaidah, Lashkar-e Tayyiba Pakistan and the Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines.

Patek, who related a series of attacks in the Philippines and also the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, was extradited last week from Pakistan to Indonesia. Gabriel, he said, a funding channel for the attacks on Jemaah Islamiyah. He also underwent military training in Pakistan where he met with personnel Alqaidah and the Taliban.

Added, Ba'asyir has been the "primary contact" with al Qaeda and also to do with Lashkar-e Tayyiba. The sanctions prohibit any U.S. citizen dealing in business transactions with these people and freeze any assets they may have on U.S. soil.
Source : Republika