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July 31, 2005
Journalist Sian Powell: 'Bin Laden Casts Wide Net in Indonesia'
Australian journalist Sian Powell contends in an August 1, 2005 analysis in The Australian that:With a little more light shed on the mysterious maneuvering of the world's most wanted man, it now appears Osama bin Laden maintained direct links with Indonesian extremists even after the arrest of the Indonesian operative thought closest to him -- the one-time Jemaah Islamiah terrorist network operations chief, Hambali.Hambali was arrested in Thailand in 2003, swept up in a joint US-Thai operation. Now in US custody, he has disappeared from view, and experts speculate he may still be undergoing interrogation. If Rois's admissions are accurate, bin Laden has since switched his Indonesian contact point to the Malaysian master bombmaker Azahari bin Husin.
Ms. Powell added: "Inheriting Hambali's mantle, Azahari has eluded police since he was first suspected of creating the bombs that tore through Balinese nightclubs in 2002, killing 202 people, including 88 Australians. With his partner in crime, Noordin Mohammad Top, Azahari masterminded the blast at Jakarta's Marriott hotel in 2003, which killed 12, and last September's attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta."
See "Bin Laden casts wide net in Indonesia" for more. The article is worth reading not for the truth of it but for the speculation and possibilities it suggests.
Posted by Munir Umrani at July 31, 2005 01:24 PM
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