Seven years ago, Bahrun Naim was quietly running an internet cafe in the small Indonesian city of Solo.
He has now been identified by police as the supposed mastermind behind the deadly attack on Jakarta claimed by Islamic State, pulling the strings from Raqqa, the radical group’s de facto capital in Syria.
In between, Naim was arrested in 2011 for illegal arms possession and jailed for three years, and police say that since then he has emerged as a key player in militant networks that have sprouted around Solo and across Central Java.
A man believed to be a terrorist, holds a gun amid Thursday’s attacks in Jakarta. Photo: EPA
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A year ago, he left for Syria to join the frontlines of Islamic State, and police believe Naim was closely involved in co-ordinating Thursday’s assault.
Just waiting for the right trigger
A person who identified themselves as Bahrun Naim
Five of the attackers and two civilians were killed in Islamic State's first strike against Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation where the group wants to establish an Asian beachhead for its “caliphate”.
