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Top al Qaeda in SE Asia nabbed

Suspected mastermind of Bali, Jakarta attacks

Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali
Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali

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Bush remarks on the capture of a key suspected al Qaeda member Riduan Isamabudian, known as Hambali (August 14)
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CNN's Maria Ressa reports that al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for last week's bombing of a hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia. (August 11)
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The man accused of being the mastermind behind last year's Bali nightclub bombings, last week's explosion at the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta and possibly the September 11, 2001, attacks was captured in Southeast Asia, senior U.S. officials said Thursday.

Riduan Isamuddin, known as Hambali, is a key leader in Jemaah Islamiyah, a group linked to al Qaeda. He has served as a link between the groups, and was sought by at least a half-dozen countries in Southeast Asia.

Washington would not say where or exactly when Hambali was captured, saying the nation did not want to be identified. He was apparently taken into custody earlier this week. Administration officials called it a significant capture, and said they would interrogate him to cull information on future attacks.

President Bush called Hambali "one of the world's most lethal terrorists" and said his capture was a significant victory in the war on terrorism.

"He is no longer a problem to those of us who love freedom," Bush told Marines at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in California.

Hambali has been blamed for the simultaneous bombings in 2000 in Malaysia and the Philippines, and with other terror attacks in the region.

A senior administration official said al Qaeda asked Hambali to recruit hijackers for other attacks after September 11, and he received large amounts of money for that mission.

Intelligence officials say Hambali may have helped plan the September 11 attacks by hijacked commercial airliners that killed nearly 3,000 people.

He was videotaped in January 2000 meeting with two of the hijackers in Malaysia -- Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi.

The 36-year-old Afghan war veteran was part of a terrorist cell broken up by Philippine police in 1995. Three of its members are serving life sentences in U.S. prisons for a plot to bomb American planes in Asia.

They had begun recruiting pilots for suicide missions, to crash commercial planes into buildings like the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

Intelligence officials in the Philippines say they believe that the 1995 plan was the blueprint for September 11.

Al Qaeda leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, along with Hambali, evaded arrest in 1995 and moved further up al Qaeda's corporate ladder. Mohammed -- who was arrested in April -- became one of Osama bin Laden's trusted lieutenants, U.S. officials say. (Evidence found in his arrest, Mohammed's life)

There has been no comment from Indonesia on Hambali's capture.

Just today, Australia warned that fresh terror attacks could be possible in Indonesia this Sunday, to coincide with the republic's national day.

Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Thursday he feared a possible terror strike in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on August 17 targeting Westerners at "soft" targets such as shopping centers or international hotels. (Sunday warning)

The warning came one day after Australia's top spy chief said a "catastrophic" terrorist attack involving weapons of mass destruction was only a matter of time. ('Catastrophic' attack)


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