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| Southeast Asia |
| Bali bombers elusive in Indonesia, Philippines |
| 2005-10-09 |
| THREE of the most wanted men in Southeast Asia narrowly escaped capture in the last two days, two in the Philippines and one in Indonesia, The New York Times reported yesterday, quoting officials in the two countries. In Indonesia, a special counterterrorism unit swept into a village in Central Java early Friday, hoping to find Mohamad Noordin Top, a 35-year-old Malaysian believed to be a central player in several bombings there, including the Bali bombings of October 2002 and a week ago. But Top had fled the village a few hours before the counterterrorism unit arrived, police officials said. Noordin and another Malaysian, Azhari Husin, are the top suspects in the recent bombings, but police have said they had no firm evidence to confirm their suspicions. In the Philippines, more than 1,000 soldiers have started a manhunt for two Indonesians, Dulmatin and Umar Patek, suspected of helping assemble the bombs that were used in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. Dulmatin, who uses only one name, is believed to have learned his bomb-making skills at an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan. "We were close to getting them at one point, but the mountainous terrain proved disadvantageous to us," Brigadier General Ben Dolorfino, commander of the Philippine Marine Brigade, said in an interview on Saturday. "We will get them sooner or later." But a ranking official of the largest rebel group in Mindanao yesterday doubted the two suspected Jemaah Islamiyah members with a combined $11-million bounty on their heads were hiding on the island. Eid Kabalu, spokesperson of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said the group had not confirmed the sighting of Dulmatin and Patek. Claiming he had been misquoted earlier, Kabalu said he was merely citing Philippine military reports when he said two JI members were being hunted in Central Mindanao. "We have no confirmation (of their presence in Mindanao). As far as the MILF is concerned, there have been no sightings. We have no personal knowledge that they are here," Kabalu told the Inquirer over the phone. Earlier reports had quoted Kabalu as saying that Dulmatin, Patek and Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani had been together in Central Mindanao when the military launched an offensive against them in July. Kabalu, however, said Khadaffy was hiding in Maguindanao province and persistent military offensives there may have reduced his group to two or three men. "His presence there is confirmed," he said. "We believe that they are there to take advantage of the ceasefire between the MILF and the military. They probably want a piece of the peace here." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |