FBI chief to arrive for terror talks

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