JAKARTA. The son of Bali bombing terrorist Imam Samudra, Omar Abdul Azis, has been killed while fighting in Syria.
His death was confirmed in a report published on Friday by Sidney Jones, Director at Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC).
Omar was part of a new generation of Indonesian jihadists that seems to have come of age, with the sons of several prominent jihadists having left for war-torn Syria, lured by the promises of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) movement and the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra.
“This is just one of more than 50 Indonesians who have [joined] ISIS since March, many leaving behind wives and children,” Sidney Jones told thejakartapost.com.
As authorities scramble to identify Indonesians fighting in Syria, at least four sons of infamous terrorists are widely believed to have joined the two groups, in part to preserve their fathers’ legacies.
“What happen to them? The government needs to step up efforts to prevent ISIS recruitment,” Jones asserted.
Of the more than 500 Indonesians that are believed to have joined ISIS since it began, about half have gone on to fight in Syria or Iraq.
In contrast, less than 200 Indonesians were estimated to have fought in Afghanistan for al-Qaeda. (Dandy Koswaraputra)
