SUMMARY

One-sided violence was employed by Jemaah Islamiya (Islamic Association) as a means to promote its goal of the establishment of an Islamic state in Southeast Asia. The organization’s choice of targeting foreign tourists was considered by Jemaah Islamiya leaders to be serving dual purposes; to attack perceived ‘enemies of Islam’ and to hurt the Indonesian tourism industry.

Jemaah Islamiya has perpetrated several bomb attacks on civilians, but it was only in 2002 that the group caused more than 25 deaths. The group has, however, allegedly also been involved in helping other groups carrying out attacks on civilians in Egypt and the Philippines in 2004.

Late on the Saturday night of 12 October 2002, three suicide bombers detonated explosives at the beachfront of Kuta and in the nearby city of Denpasar on Bali. According to interrogations with a low-level Jemaah Islamiya member in the aftermath of the attack, the original target had been the US consulate in Denpasar, but the plan was changed at the last moment to instead target the tourist area in Kuta. This would then go against statements of the Jemaah Islamiya leadership, who have clearly emphasized that the group wanted to attack civilians.

Jemaah Islamiya first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2002, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in October that year when three concerted suicide bombs exploded in Bali, killing 202 people.