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| Southeast Asia |
| Bali ringleader 'admits' al Qaeda link |
| 2002-11-27 |
| Indonesian police say the suspected ringleader behind last month's Bali bombings has admitted to knowing a key figure linked to al Qaeda. Imam Samudra was arrested last Thursday and according to police, has confessed to plotting and executing the October 12 bombings, which killed nearly 200 people, as part of a "jihad" or holy war against Westerners. In the latest sign that terror groups in Asia are working together and crossing borders at will under an anti-western ideology, Sumudra told police on Wednesday he knew Hambali, the operations head of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a Southeast Asia terror group linked to al-Qaeda. "At the beginning he [Samudra] denied knowing Hambali, but when we showed him the evidence he finally admitted to knowing Hambali. He met him in Malaysia," National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar told reporters in Jakarta. "Don't know him, huh?" "Y'got nuttin' on me, coppers!" "Then how do you explain — these!" "Gah! My underwear! Where did you get them?" "Out of his underwear drawer!" "I confess! Yes! Yes! We were lovers! But I never thought it would come to this!" Earlier, Samudra said he was acting on orders from Hambali, one intelligence official told The Associated Press. "I vass only followink orders!" Hambali, now a fugitive also known as Riduan Isamuddin, heads al Qaeda's network in the region and sits on its leadership committee. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |