Farouk Arnaz & Heru Andriyanto – Despite police successes against terrorist networks, lessons learned over the 12 months since the July 17 twin hotel bombings in Jakarta show that the shadowy terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah has the capacity to keep on regenerating, according to a top counterterrorism official.

Brig. Gen. Tito Karnavian, head of the National Police's counterterrorism unit, says the group, also known as JI, appears to be never short of followers, despite having been the target of nationwide manhunts since the 2002 Bali bombings, and has adapted by changing its attack strategy.

"We have learned that JI has survived and started a new cell," Tito told the Jakarta Globe in an exclusive interview this week. "Noordin M Top was capable of setting a well-planned attack. The bombings also revealed a role played by the Al-Ghuroba cell."

Al-Ghuroba is a group comprising Indonesian students who have studied at fundamentalist schools in Pakistan. Its key members include Abdul Rohim, the son of influential cleric Abu Bakar Bashir; Muhammad Jibriel, the son of radical preacher Abu Jibriel; and Gun-Gun Rusman Gunawan, the younger brother of Hambali, who is being detained by US authorities on terror charges.

In a recent report, the International Crisis Group, a global security watchdog, identified followers of the Bashir-led Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid as a key challenge for Indonesian law enforcers.

"The far bigger challenge for Indonesia is to manage the aspirations of the thousands who join JAT rallies for its public message: That democracy is antithetical to Islam, that only an Islamic state can uphold the faith and that Islamic law must be the source of all justice," the ICG said.

JAT's Jakarta headquarters was raided by police in May and several members were charged with funding a paramilitary training camp uncovered in Aceh in February.

Tito also said that police learned that terrorists were expanding their scope from Western targets to "nearby enemies."

"What I mean by nearby enemies are the Indonesian government, Indonesian Military and National Police, which they regard as representatives of a secular regime and supporters of Western democracy," he said.

"They were also preparing a series of attacks, instead of a single attack in one year. In addition to the July 17 bombings, they were preparing a car-bomb attack on the president," Tito said, adding the plot against the president was uncovered after a raid in Jati Asih, Bekasi, several weeks after the hotel bombings.

Although trials are under way for most of the bombing suspects, Tito said three more suspects arrested in Medan in April were still to be prosecuted. Sources at the police have said the three Medan suspects are Deni Suramto, who allegedly bought the explosives for the hotel attacks; Bayu Sena, the suspected bomb maker; and Pandu Wicaksono.

Tito said other key militants were also being sought. "Among them is Mustofa, alias Abu Tholut. He is the most senior member we know after the Aceh terrorist network was uncovered," he said.

Mustofa was arrested in Semarang for illegal possession of firearms in July 2003. He was sentenced to seven years in jail but walked free under a conditional release in March 2009.

"The road before us is still long and they will continue to regenerate," Tito said.