Archives

BANGKOK, Friday (Reuters) Hambali, Al Qaeda's top man in Asia and hunted since the Bali bombings he is believed to have planned, has been captured in Thailand, handed over to the Americans and flown out of the country, officials said on Friday.

A senior Thai general told Reuters that Hambali and an unidentified woman were arrested by Thai and U.S. authorities on Tuesday in Ayutthaya, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Bangkok, Thailand's ancient capital which has a small Muslim population. "A special flight from the United States picked him up at Bangkok airport on Wednesday morning," said the general, who declined to be named and would not say where Hambali was flown.

U.S. officials said Hambali, thought to be operations chief of Southeast Asia's militant Jemaah Islamiah (JI) network, was being interrogated. They would not say where.

Governments across Southeast Asia, in Australia and the United States let out huge sighs of relief at the capture of a man tagged one of the world's most dangerous following the Bali bombs which killed more than 200 people last year.

But there were also fears that JI might strike again - little more than a week after a suicide car bomber killed 12 people at a luxury Jakarta hotel - in revenge for the capture of the man believed to have planned their operations.

"We should not let our guard down," Philippine National Security Adviser Roilo Golez told Reuters. "We have to raise the alert level against repercussions or retaliatory attacks."

Australia said Hambali's arrest was a major breakthrough in the U.S.-led war on terror. Indonesia described it as "an important mark in the global fight against terror". Indonesia has blamed the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah for the nightclub bombings on its resort island of Bali in which many Australians were killed, and for the August 5 blast at Jakarta's Marriott Hotel.

President George W. Bush was told of the capture on Wednesday in a video conference call while on vacation at his Texas ranch.

"He's a known killer. Hambali was one of the world's most lethal terrorists. He is no longer a problem," he told U.S. troops in San Diego on Thursday.

Thailand's Nation newspaper, citing an unnamed security source, said Hambali had been arrested with explosives and confessed he was planning an attack on a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, including Bush and Soviet leader Vladimir Putin, in Bangkok in October.

But a police general said that when Hambali and the woman were captured during a raid on an apartment in Ayutthaya on Tuesday, there were no signs of explosives. "There were no weapons or explosive devices found," he told Reuters. "They have been sent out of the country."

Hambali was hunted in Thailand last year and is believed to have planned the Bali bombings at a meeting in Bangkok. There were also sightings in neighbouring Cambodia, but he managed to stay one step ahead of the law.

He is believed to have slipped into Thailand last week on a fake passport. "He was not wearing a beard and he had had plastic surgery," the police general said.

Hambali's arrest came in the same week that Thailand enacted its first anti-terrorism law by decree to ensure it was in place before the Asia-Pacific summit.

www.crescat.com

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries

Produced by Lake House
Copyright © 2003 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager