Posted on 11/18/2005 8:42:53 AM PST by Valin
Bush, ASEAN leaders praise Indonesia stopping Southeast Asian terrorist suspect
BUSAN, South Korea (AP): U.S. President George W. Bush and Southeast Asian leaders congratulated Indonesia Friday for killing of one of Asia's top terrorist suspects, but stressed that vigilance would be needed to stop other militants who continue to plot attacks, officials said.
Terrorism was high on the agenda when Bush met Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and six other Southeast Asian leaders on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Busan, South Korea.
During their meeting, the leaders talked about the killing of Malaysian terrorist suspect Azahari bin Husin in an Oct. 9 police raid on his hide-out east of Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.
Azahari was an alleged leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, and suspected of playing a key role in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people and the deadly restaurant bomb attacks on the same island last month.
"Everybody congratulated President Yudhoyono but they also said 'this, by no means, is the end of it. We should continue, we should get the other people who are involved,"' Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, who attended the meeting, told The Associated Press.
Stopping Azahari was "a success, but we need more performance together, and that we can do by sharing resources, intelligence, working together," Romulo cited the leaders as saying.
On Thursday, Susilo told a business gathering on the sidelines of the summit that "Azahari's demise is the most significant counterterrorism achievement this year for Indonesia."
He said Indonesia would "relentlessly hunt down" other terrorists, including Azahari's key accomplice Noordin Mohamad Top.
Before Azahari's killing, some analysts had questioned Indonesia's commitment to stopping Islamic extremists operating in the country - a fledgling democracy that is the world's most populous Muslim nation - because it could provoke a political backlash. (**)
Why I don't do business in Jakarta : )
Maybe you should.
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