Zarkasih was the leader of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a South East Asian militant group, from 2004 until July 2007 when he was captured. Zarkasih goes by a single name and other aliases including Nuaim, Mbah, Abu Irsyad. As of December 2007, Zarkasih is facing anti-terrorism charges.

Zarkasih is believed to have joined the mujahideen

Mujahideen

Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...

 in Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 in the fight against the Soviets

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. He received military training in Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

 and has links with al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...

. He became the leader of JI in 2004.

Zarkasih was captured in July 2007 in Yogyakarta by Indonesian police, a few hours after the arrest of JI military commander Abu Dujana

Abu Dujana (Jemaah Islamiah)

Abu Dujana was the military leader of Jemaah Islamiah from 2005 until June 2007 when he was arrested.As of December 2007, he is facing trial in Jakarta on terrorism-related charges...

.

As of December 2007, Zarkasih and Abu Dujana are facing anti-terrorism charges including conspiracy to commit terrorist attacks, harboring fugitives and possession of illegal weapons and ammunition. They are also accused of shipping weapons and explosives to Sulawesi

Sulawesi

Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...

island to be used for anti-Christian attacks. If convicted, both men could face the death penalty.