FBI chief to arrive for terror talks

Director of the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Robert S. Mueller is scheduled to visit Bali this week for two days of talks with senior government officials on the war against terror, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement released on Wednesday.

Mueller is due to arrive on Friday and will hold talks with Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar on ways to improve existing cooperation between the two countries to combat terrorism.

Mueller's trip to Indonesia is part of a regional tour. He is due in Malaysia on Wednesday.

Indonesia has come under pressure lately from neighbors Singapore and Malaysia to take tougher action against alleged terrorist leaders based here.

Singapore has named Muslim preacher Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who runs the Al-Mukmin Muslim boarding school in Sukoharjo, Central Java, as current leader of the allegedly al Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah group.

Late last year, 13 alleged Jamaah Islamiyah operatives were detained in Singapore for allegedly plotting to blow up U.S. targets there. Singapore says some of them have identified Ba'asyir as their leader.

Last week, Ba'asyir filed a lawsuit against the Singaporean government. He has denied having links with international terrorists.

Singapore has also identified Muslim cleric Hambali, alias Nurjaman Riduan Isamuddin, as linked to international terrorism and the planned terror attacks in Singapore. Indonesian police say they have asked Interpol to arrest Hambali in connection with bombings of Indonesian churches on Christmas Eve 2000, which left 18 people dead. -- JP