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Bali bomb-maker dies in shoot-out
ONE of the two terrorists who made the Bali bombs has been shot dead during a gun battle with soldiers near a militant stronghold in the southern Philippines. The remains of Umar Patek, a member of Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiah, and those of an al-Qa'ida-linked Abu Sayyaf commander were recovered from a creek bed on August 5, three weeks after they were ambushed by special forces. Security agencies formally identified Patek's remains yesterday, bringing an end to a three-year hunt to find one of the region's most dangerous bomb-makers.Only three of the terrorists responsible for the Bali atrocities remain at large. They are master-bomber Azahari Hussein, his deputy Dulmatin and logistics man Noordin Mohammad Top. Patek had been responsible for mixing the chemicals used to make the 1-tonne potassium chlorate bomb that destroyed the Sari Club in Bali on October 12, 2002, claiming 202 lives, among them 88 Australians. The Philippines Government had claimed for several months that Patek and JI cohort Dulmatin had been hiding with the Abu Sayyaf in the restive province of Mindinao, controlled by Filipino Muslim militants. Special forces soldiers launched an intensive operation in early July to find the pair thought at the time to be protected by Khadaffy Janajalani, the Abu Sayyaf leader responsible for dozens of kidnappings of Western hostages since 2000. Shortly after the offensive began, military officers claimed Dulmatin narrowly fled a helicopter gunship attack on a ramshackle Mindinao village. Dulmatin and Patek are thought to have been on the run ever since, taking refuge in Abu Sayyaf jungle hideaways and joining in combat operations against Filipino soldiers. The death of Patek in the southern Philippines has reaffirmed suspicions long held by the Australian Government that JI and Abu Sayyaf have formed alliances to plot attacks against the West. Until early 2003, the two groups were thought to have remained largely separate, though working to a common end of establishing an Islamic stronghold governed by sharia law throughout the Indonesian archipelago and southern Philippines. Regional security officials believe dozens of Indonesian militants continue to conduct paramilitary training each month in Mindinao, before returning to their homelands. A spokesman for Foreign Minister Alexander Downer last night said the Government had not been formally advised of Patek's death. "However, in principle we welcome all reports of capture, or elimination of any of the terrorists connected with Bali," Mr Downer's spokesman said. Posted by: tipper 2005-08-15 |
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