Thailand admits Hambali entered kingdom

Thailand admits Hambali entered kingdom

THAILAND: Thailand's foreign ministry admitted on Thursday that al-Qaeda's top Southeast Asian operative, Riduan Isamuddin, entered the kingdom briefly but said he had not established cells here.

"He had transit passage through Thailand some time back and exited soon after. We don't know the exact duration of his passage," said the ministry's deputy permanent secretary Krit Garnjana-Goonchorn.

"He's not here, he has no local cells here, he hasn't been operating in Thailand," he told a press conference. "There is no link between the Bali bombing and alleged terrorist activities in Thailand."

Media reports citing an FBI investigation have said that Isamuddin, an Indonesian militant better known as Hambali, held a meeting of Arab and Southeast Asian militants in southern Thailand in January.

At the meeting, which preceded Bali's October bombing, Hambali urged the militants to attack "soft targets" in the region like nightclubs and restaurants, the reports said. -- AFP