Terrorist group targeted Paiton power plant: Report

The al-Qaida-linked Jemmah Islamiyah militant network based in Southeastern Asia planned last year to bomb a power plant in the east of Java island that is capitalized by Japanese, British and U.S. companies, according to a source in the Indonesian security authorities as quoted by The Yomiuri Shimbun Sunday.

The source said JI was also investigating whether citizens of the United States and its allies were working at Paiton coal thermal power plant, located about 150 kilometers southeast of Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city.

It is the first time that a terrorist attack planned by JI targeting Japanese-related facilities has been discovered.

Paiton power plant, which was built by Japanese trading and other companies, and major U.S. and British power companies provide electricity in most parts of Java island.

The source said the attack was plotted early last year by Noordin Mohamed Top, a JI leader and the mastermind of the suicide bombings on Bali in October that killed 20 people.

The plan is believed to be aimed at throwing the region into confusion by causing a large-scale blackout on Java island. Noordin ordered JI members to stake out the plant, the source said.

Two JI members who were arrested on suspicion of harboring Noordin and are currently on trial told local prosecutors that they were ordered to check whether foreign citizens, including Americans, worked at the plant.

Noordin is believed to have picked the power plant as a target because it is capitalized and operated by foreign companies.

However, the attack was eventually aborted because JI could not make bombs powerful enough to disable the plant, according to the source.(*)