Free Republic

SNIPPET: "Indonesian anti-terror police, Densus 88 secure a terror suspect's house during a raid in Mojosongo, Solo in Central Java. Indonesian police have arrested 11 members of an Islamic group allegedly planning attacks on American diplomatic missions, a spokesman says." SNIPPET: "The group had planned to hit the US embassy and a US consulate, as well as a building near the Australian embassy in the capital Jakarta that houses the office of American mining giant Freeport-McMoran, police said. Police said they were from a new outfit called HASMI, the Sunni Movement for Indonesian Society, and explosives and a bomb-making manual...

Indonesian police have reportedly captured the nation's most wanted terrorist suspect in a raid in central java. Earlier reports that Abdullah Sunata was killed in the raid have proved unfounded. Abdullah Sunata is suspected of being a key member of the cell discovered in Aceh earlier this year. He was a veteran of religious conflict in Ambon and Sulawesi and a senior member of the network headed by the late Noordin Mohammad Top. He was previously jailed over his role in the bombing of the Australian Embassy in 2004. And he was arrested along with another man, who'd also been...

US President George W Bush has thanked Prime Minister John Howard for his strong support in the war against terrorism as the two leaders planted a tree in the grounds of the Australian ambassador's residence in Washington. Calling Mr Howard his dear friend, Mr Bush said the tree – an American elm grown from a direct cutting from an elm planted at the White House in 1826 by President John Quincy Adams – was a symbol of the enduring friendship between the two countries. Struggling in the polls, with his personal popularity languishing at 29 per cent as concern about...

JAKARTA, (AFP) - Indonesian police have arrested three men suspected of involvement in the 2004 bombing of the Australian embassy here and of links to a top Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist suspect, police and a report said. The three were arrested separately in Pekalongan, on the northern coast of Central Java province on November 17, Jakarta Police Spokesman Untung Yoga Ana said. The three, identified as Fatkhurrahman, Bukhori and Yasin Al-Reza, were taken to Jakarta for questioning, he told AFP. He declined further immediate comment but said that the three were arrested under anti-terrorist laws that allow police to detain suspects for...

An Indonesian court has sentenced to death the main defendant on trial over last year's suicide car bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta that killed 10 people. Iwan Dharmawan, alias Rois, stood up waving his fist in the air and shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) after the verdict was read out. Prosecutors had accused Rois of buying the vehicle and other materials used in the bombing, and of recruiting the driver who drove the vehicle. They had also said Rois, 30, worked closely with the accused masterminds of the strike, Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin M...

OSAMA bin Laden sent a bundle of Australian dollars to fund last year's bombing attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta, the terrorist who led the attack has told Indonesian police. Rois, who also goes under the name of Iwan Dharmawan, told police under interrogation that a courier had delivered the cash to Malaysian master bomber Azahari bin Husin and it came directly from bin Laden. Rois said Australia had been chosen as a target for the bombing because of its support for the US in Iraq, according to a transcript of his police interview. As the right-hand man of...

OSAMA bin Laden sent a bundle of Australian dollars to fund last year's bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta, the terrorist who led the attack has told Indonesian police. Rois, who also goes under the name of Iwan Dharmawan, told police under interrogation that a courier had delivered the cash to Malaysian master bomber Azahari bin Husin and it came directly from bin Laden. Rois said Australia had been chosen as a target for the bombing because of its support for the US in Iraq, according to a transcript of his police interview seen by The Australian. As the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The al-Qaida in Iraq terror group claimed that it carried out a truck bombing at the Australian Embassy in Baghdad that killed two people Wednesday, according to a statement posted on an Islamic Web site. The embassy blast was the first in a series of car bombings to hit Bagndad and surrounding area within 90 minutes of one another. Iraqi authorities said nine people were killed in the blasts. The U.S. military put the death toll at 26, based on initial reports from American soldiers who responded to the attacks. The discrepancy in the count could...

THE failed attempt to bomb the Australian embassy in Baghdad makes it chillingly clear our diplomats and military personnel in Iraq are very much on active service. This time, training and planning paid off and the defensive systems worked. As the attack claimed two Iraqi lives, the terrorists may well consider it a success -- they are keen to kill anybody they can. But while all the Australians escaped, we may not always be as fortunate. The possibility that Australian lives will be lost in Iraq cannot be discounted. There will be many more enemy attacks in the war on...

MANNY Musu, the little girl who survived the bomb attack on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, is likely to go home for Christmas. Speaking from Manny's hospital bedside in Verona, Italy, her devoted "Papa", Manuel Musu, said it would be a dream come true to bring Manny, 5, home from Borgo Trento Hospital. "Hopefully, the doctors will let her come home at Christmas for two or three days," he said. "It's been very hard since September, but we are trying to look forward towards the future. I really want the best for my daughter." Manny received near-fatal injuries in the...

Target ... the Australian embassy in Beiruit. 'Attack' on embassy avertedBy Nicolas Rothwell27sep04 A TERROR plot with the Australian embassy in Beirut as a possible target was foiled last week, according to detailed disclosures at the weekend by Lebanese government officials. All Australian embassies in the Middle East are on heightened alert as a result of the global "war on terror" and the threats made against Australian interests by al-Qaeda and its leader, Osama Bin Laden. The latest revelations follow the announcement last week by the Italian Government that a large-scale attack on its Beirut embassy had been thwarted....

THE brave little girl who survived the horror of the Australian Embassy blast in Jakarta was yesterday reunited with the humble hero who saved her life. In an emotional bedside meeting organised by the Sunday Herald Sun, Elizabeth "Manny" Musus, 5, met Ahmad Usman, the air-conditioning worker who carried her from the rubble of the massive September 9 blast. "All I can say is, it is a miracle from God to see her condition, which is so much better than before," Ahmad said after the meeting at the Singapore hospital. The terror attack claimed the lives of nine people -...

INDONESIAN police have arrested a man and his wife suspected of possible involvement in last week's suicide car bombing at the Australian embassy, a spokesman said today. The couple were arrested late yesterday in the town of Sidoarjo, just south of the city of Surabaya on the island of Java, provincial police spokesman Endro Wardoyo told AFP. Asked whether there was a link to last Thursday's bombing which killed nine people and wounded at least 180, he said: "That is still the suspicion." Three others fled from the house before police could catch them, Mr Wardoyo said. "They were about...

AUSTRALIA'S embassy in Jakarta will be allowed to build a high bomb-proof outer wall in the wake of last week's terrorist car bomb after city officials dropped opposition to the idea. Australian ambassador David Ritchie along with his American and British counterparts met Jakarta governor and former general Sutiyoso yesterday to discuss building high-security blast walls outside the three western embassies. US ambassador Ralph Boyce has been pushing for planning permission to build a 3m-high concrete and steel wall outside the American embassy for some time. But Jakarta officials had resisted the idea, claiming it would be unsightly. Until now...

Mark Latham always needed to win, or at worst draw, tonight's debate to secure a strong foothold at this stage of the campaign. Now it is even more important - but also more difficult - for him to do well. The Jakarta bombing has created a new and potentially hazardous climate for Latham. People are reminded he is an untried leader in dangerous times. And his own messages on tax, health, education and the environment will get overwhelmed for a while. Post Jakarta, a few people in caucus must be wondering (very privately) whether Labor would be in a better...

JOHN Howard and Mark Latham are being praised for "not politicising" the bombings in Jakarta. "The real test of leadership is whether either side of politics actually tries to exploit this horrific incident," the Australian Financial Review's political correspondent said. The Age insisted no party "exploit this tragedy for political ends" or even offer us any choice other than "a broadly bipartisan approach to terrorism". Of course, no one wants to see gloating politicians stand on the bodies of the Jakarta dead and jeer: "Told you so." We've all had enough of Bob Brown, I'm sure. But let's not get...

THE bombing outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta has had a chilling effect across the country. The attack brought the federal election campaign to a halt, with both major party leaders cancelling planned campaign events on Friday. The Jakarta blast came just after the horror of the terrorist slaughter in Beslan in southern Russia, and just before the anniversary yesterday of the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington. The combination of events added to the sense of fear and threat so that terrorism completely dominated public debate by the end of the second week of election campaigning. While the...

I know the language is a bit robust, and I'll understand if this gets deleted - but it really got to me, and I can't edit it. Bali didn't beat us, and we knew you'd try again But once again, we're telling you we'll take the bloody pain Your bombing killed some people and you think you've made a stand Well, let me tell you something 'bout the people of my land We went ashore on ANZAC day, near 90 years ago Our people went to war with Turks who share your faith, you know. Today, the Turks and us...

Federal Police Comissioner Mick Keeley says a second group of suicide bombers is believed to be at large in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, and may be poised to carry out another terrorist attack.The warning comes in the wake of Thursday's blast at the Australian embassy compound, which killed nine people and left more than 150 injured.Comissioner Keeley said the new warning is based on advise from the intelligence community.'There is intelligence suggesting that there is a second group in the area,' he said.'Intelligence comes through all the time about threats and possible threats and there is further intelligence in the...

Warning of bomb in text message By Marianne Kearney in Jakarta (Filed: 11/09/2004) Indonesian police were warned about the bomb attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta in a mobile phone text message 45 minutes before the bomb exploded, Alexander Downer, the Australian foreign minister, said yesterday. The message said a western embassy would be attacked unless Abu Bakar Bashir, the Islamic cleric being held on suspicion of involvement in terrorism, was released immediately. Bashir, alleged to be the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, the group behind the Bali bombings, is due to be put on trial later this month....