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