Fathur Rahman al-Ghozi (17 February 1971 – 12 October 2003) was a key operative and bomb-maker of the Islamic militant Jemaah Islamiya group (JI). Al-Ghozi was accused of plotting and carrying out several terrorist attacks in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, Indonesia, and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Terrorist activities

Born in 1971 in

East Java East Java (, , ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost third of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, Al-Ghozi became a member of JI. He had ties with Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah, having studied in Bashir's religious school in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia for six years, in late 1980s. He received military training at an

al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

camp, including bomb-making instruction from Abu Khabab, along the border of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. He then became a JI trainer, conducting bomb-making courses in

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and the Philippines. He was also reported to be a member of

Moro Islamic Liberation Front The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF; ) is an Islamist group based in Mindanao, Philippines, which sought an autonomous region of the Moro people from the central government. The group has a presence in the Bangsamoro region of Mindanao, t ...

(MILF) special operations group, going by with another alias Randy Ali. Al-Ghozi planned and financed the Rizal Day bombings, a series of bombing carried out by Jemaah Islamiya on 30 December 2000 that killed 22 people. In October 2001, under the instruction of JI leader Hambali, Al-Ghozi went to

using a false Filipino passport to activate a JI's sleeper cell and direct the JI members to conduct reconnaissance and plan a series of bombings attacking

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and Western interests. Yazid Sufaat (''q.v.'') had acquired four tonnes of ammonium nitrate for the bombs. Among the intended targets were U.S. and

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i Embassies,

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and

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n High Commissions, and commercial buildings housing US firms. They planned to launch the attacks in December 2001/January 2002 or April/May 2002, but the plot was uncovered by authorities in December 2001.

Arrest

Al-Ghozi was arrested in the Philippines on 15 January 2002, three hours before he was to board a plane from

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

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for an arranged meeting with Riduan Isamuddin and other al-Qaeda and JI operatives. He pleaded guilty to charges of possession of illegal explosives in April 2002, and was sentenced to 17 years in jail. While in custody, he gave information that led investigators to a cache of more than a ton of explosives, 300 detonators and other bomb-making materials in the Southern Philippines. These items were recovered from a house rented by al-Ghozi in

General Santos General Santos, officially the City of General Santos and abbreviated as GenSan, is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Regions of the Philippines, region of Soccsksargen, Philippines. According to ...

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. Al-Ghozi confessed that he had provided the explosives used in the Rizal Day bombings, and had been planning to use the remaining explosives for the embassies attacks in Singapore.

Escape and death

On 14 July 2003, al-Ghozi managed to escape from a high security facility inside Camp Crame, together with two other terrorist suspects belonging to the

Abu Sayyaf Abu Sayyaf (; , ASG), officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, was a Jihadist militant and piracy, pirate group that followed the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It was based in and around Jolo and B ...

group. The breakout led to a nationwide hunt for the fugitives in the Philippines. The government posted a reward of 10 million pesos for information on his whereabouts. On 12 October 2003, it was reported that al-Ghozi was killed during a police shootout in

.Greg Barton, ''Indonesia's Struggle - Jemaah Islamiyah and the Soul of Islam.'' According to reports, the authorities received a tip that al-Ghozi was travelling near Pigkawayan. A military checkpoint was set up, but the jeep transporting al-Ghozi rammed through the roadblock and a gun battle ensued. Soldiers shot al-Ghozi while he was attempting to detonate a hand grenade; he died on the way to a nearby clinic.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghozi, Fathur Rahman Deaths by firearm in the Philippines Jemaah Islamiyah 1971 births 2003 deaths Indonesian expatriates in the Philippines People from Madiun

Terrorist activities

Arrest

Escape and death

See also

References