Escaped militant poses security threat<\/p>\n
Niniek Karmini, Associated Press\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
A suspected top al-Qaeda operative who escaped from a U.S.-run
\ndetention facility in Afghanistan poses a serious threat to
\nSoutheast Asian security, anti-terror officials said on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
Some said Washington failed to tell them Omar al-Farouq was
\nfree. Al-Farouq, born in Kuwait to Iraqi parents, was considered
\none of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants in Southeast Asia until
\nIndonesian authorities captured him in 2002 and turned him over
\nto the United States.<\/p>\n
It was not clear how he and three other suspected Arab
\nterrorists broke free from a heavily fortified detention facility
\nin Bagram in July -- though they reportedly claimed in a video
\nbroadcast earlier this month that they picked the lock of their
\ncell.<\/p>\n
Several razor-wire fences surround the base and areas outside
\nthe perimeter remain mined from Afghanistan's civil war and
\nSoviet occupation. Military teams patrol constantly and the main
\nentrance is a series of heavily guarded checkpoints.<\/p>\n
Though the escape was widely reported at the time, al-Farouq
\nwas identified by another name.<\/p>\n
The U.S. military only confirmed this week that the suspected
\nterrorist -- who lived in Indonesia for years, allegedly setting
\nup terror training camps -- was among the four.<\/p>\n
Indonesian and Thai intelligence officials said on Wednesday
\nthat Washington had not informed them of al-Farouq's escape --
\neven though he had been planning terrorist strikes in the region,
\nincluding their own countries.<\/p>\n
\"We know nothing about it,\" said Ansja'ad Mbai, Indonesia's
\nanti-terror chief. \"If it's true, the U.S. government ... should
\nhave informed us. This man is dangerous and his escape increases
\nthe threat of terrorism in Indonesia.\"<\/p>\n
\"We need to coordinate security here as soon as possible to
\nanticipate his return,\" he added, noting that al-Farouq's wife
\nand two children still live in a modest concrete home about an
\nhour's drive from the capital, Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Ansja'ad said al-Farouq's escape \"could energize a new
\ngeneration of terrorists in Southeast Asia and the world.\"<\/p>\n
The chief of Thailand's National Intelligence Agency also said
\nhe had not been told that al-Farouq was free.<\/p>\n
\"He hasn't escaped, has he?\" Jumpol said by telephone in
\nBangkok. \"We don't know anything about this.\"<\/p>\n
Al-Farouq was recruited into al-Qaeda in the early 1990s and
\nwent to the Khaldan training camp in Afghanistan from 1992 and
\n1995, Ken Conboy, a Jakarta-based security consultant and
\nterrorism expert, wrote in his book Intel.<\/p>\n
From there, he was sent to the Philippines, originally to
\nenroll in a flight school so he could become proficient enough to
\ncommandeer a passenger plane on a suicide mission.<\/p>\n
He failed to gain entry and instead went to a camp in the
\ntraditional Muslim homeland of Mindanao, where he trained in
\njungle warfare tactics along with members of the al-Qaeda-linked
\nmilitant group Jamaah Islamiyah, Conboy wrote.<\/p>\n
Next, al-Farouq traveled by sea to neighboring Indonesia,
\nwhere in 2000 he started setting up training camps for radicals
\nengaged in sectarian clashes with the nation's Christian
\nminority, the book says.<\/p>\n
He was also reported to be planning a series of attacks on
\nU.S. embassies and other Western interests throughout Southeast
\nAsia, it says.<\/p>\n
Conboy said he thought it was unlikely al-Farouq would risk
\nreturning to the region.<\/p>\n
\"He's Iraqi after all,\" Conboy said. \"If he's not hiding out
\n(in Afghanistan or Pakistan), he's probably headed to Iraq to
\njoin the fight there.\"<\/p>\n
But a Philippine police intelligence officer, speaking on
\ncondition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to
\nthe media, said al-Farouq posed a danger to the region.<\/p>\n
\"His support groups are still in the region and that could
\nprovide an incentive for him to return,\" the officer said. \"He's
\ndangerous.\"<\/p>\n
U.S. military officials have declined to elaborate on how al-
\nFarouq and the three other Arab men escaped from Bagram.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/escaped-militant-poses-security-threat-1447893297",
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