Embassy fears fan threat by elusive Indonesian terror suspect
Embassy fears fan threat by elusive Indonesian terror suspect
Jane Macartney, Reuters, Singapore
Round-faced with spectacles and a wispy beard, Riduan Isamuddin could blend into any crowd in Southeast Asia. And he does.
That ability to fade into the background is a trump card in what Western intelligence experts say is the task set by Osama bin Laden for the 36-year-old Islamic preacher to sow fear and wreak devastation around the region.
Australia and Canada said on Thursday they had closed their embassies in Manila after receiving information of a planned attack in the next few days. Both governments urged their citizens to defer all non-essential travel to the Philippines, an archipelago of sugar-white beaches and dive havens.
That means Ridouan Isamuddin, better known by the alias Hambali, is meeting the mandate laid down for him by his equally elusive boss bin Laden, alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, strikes on New York and Washington.
Western intelligence experts say Hambali is nothing less than bin Laden's man in Southeast Asia.
"Hambali was brought into al-Qaeda in the late 1980s," wrote U.S. academic Zachary Abuza in a new report, Tentacles of Terror: Al Qaeda's Southeast Asian Network.
"He is remarkable in that he is one of the only non-Arabs to become a high-ranking member of al-Qaeda, and was a member of the shura, its highest decision-making body," Abuza wrote.
Charged with overseeing military operations in the region, Hambali is the operational mastermind of Indonesia's shadowy Jamaah Islamiah (JI) network and the man allegedly behind the Oct. 12 Bali bombing that killed more than 190, about half of them Australians, intelligence experts say.
Even if he is not linked to the threat against the Manila embassies, any such attack would fall within his remit.
"Hambali is in charge of operations in the region," said counterterrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna, author of Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror.
Details of his activities since he went underground in May 2001 have emerged from U.S. interrogation of a young Canadian- Kuwaiti, Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, who was arrested for his alleged role in plans last December to bomb Western embassies in Singapore, Abuza wrote.
According to Abuza, Hambali held a meeting in southern Thailand in January 2002 -- attended by Mansour -- at which he switched targets from symbolic hits such as embassies to soft targets such as bars.
Details of the meeting were given by FBI investigators to the Thai authorities in August and that country with its relatively relaxed immigration procedures may remain his favored headquarters, Gunaratna said.
"There is no record of Hambali leaving Thailand in his name or under any known alias," he said, dismissing rumors Hambali had sought refuge in Pakistan or even at home in Indonesia.
Thailand has raged against reports that such a meeting took place on its soil, apparently in the more Muslim south. "There are no such things... Sometimes those rumors could damage us," Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters on Thursday.
"Perhaps, these people might have visited or traveled through Thailand because we are geographically central, an attractive country to visit. We are the most visited country in the region. They (terror suspects) would not come to Thailand for terrorism purposes," he said.
U.S. Ambassador to Thailand Darryl Johnson said on Wednesday the Thai government had done enough to ensure American interests were safe, despite a general U.S. travel warning for Southeast Asia in the wake of the Bali bombings.
Thailand, worried its economy will be hit by tourist and foreign investor nerves, has tightened security at major resorts and launched a publicity campaign to persuade potential visitors that the country is safe.
Western embassies in Manila, diplomatic missions in Singapore and U.S. interests everywhere offered easy pickings for radicals -- at least until Sept. 11.
"Southeast Asian states were what I term 'countries of convenience' for terrorists," said Abuza, describing "tourist- friendly and minimal visa requirements, lax financial oversights, well-established remittance systems for overseas workers, porous borders, often weak government control, endemic government corruption, and a vast supply of illicit arms".