[13] In addition to Al-Qaeda, the group is also alleged to have links to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front[13] and Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid, a splinter cell of the JI which was formed by Abu Bakar Baasyir on 27 July 2008.

[15][16] In October 2021, the Director of Identification and Socialization of the Detachment 88 Muhammad Sodiq said that 876 members of Jamaah Islamiyah had been arrested and sentenced in Indonesia.

[21] After the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998, both men returned to Indonesia[22] where JI gained a terrorist edge when one of its founders, the late Abdullah Sungkar, established contact with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.

[24] It shifted its attention to targeting U.S. and Western interests in Indonesia and the wider Southeast Asian region[25] since the start of the U.S.-led war on terror.

JI's terror plans in Southeast Asia were exposed when its plot to set off several bombs in Singapore was foiled by the local authorities.

In 2004, Abu Bakar Bashir created the Indonesian Mujahedeen Council to connect Islamist groups, including JI, in Indonesia.

[39][40] However, most of Jemaah Islamiyah prominent figures such as Hambali, Abu Dujana, Azahari Husin, Noordin Top and Dulmatin have either been captured or killed, mostly by Indonesian anti-terrorist squad, Detachment 88.

[43] In April 2008, the South Jakarta District Court declared JI an illegal organisation when sentencing former leader Zarkasih and military commander Abu Dujana to 15 years on terrorism charges.

Abu Rusdan made the statement alongside other key figures, including Para Wijayanto, one of the most wanted terrorists in Southeast Asia who was arrested in 2019 for recruiting militants and raising funds for Syria.