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Pakistan will prevail against terrorism By Asif Ali Zardari | September 25, 2008 THERE ARE MOMENTS in history that define nations, and also define men. For Pakistan, we have reached a critical crossroad that will determine the nature of our future, or if we will have one. I have the opportunity to help my people secure that future, by implementing the vision of my late martyred wife, Benazir Bhutto. Benazir gave her life fighting the terrorism and fanaticism that haunt the entire civilized world. I fight the terrorist threat in Pakistan not only as an elected democratic leader but also...

This week's Indonesian court verdict against Abu Bakar Bashir on 'evil conspiracy' charges meted out a pickpocket's punishment to a terrorist ringleader responsible for an atrocity second only to 9/11. Bashir's 2 ½ year sentence for the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombing is a parody of justice and an insult to the lost lives of the U.S., Australian, Indonesian and other citizens who died in the attack. This sentence is especially bitter because the U.S. and Australia have expended so much blood and treasure to rid the world of terrorism elsewhere in Asia. But in Indonesia, there is no justice...

The Indonesian Muslim cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir, is facing the prospect of being tried on terrorism charges. Indonesia's Prosecution Office has sanctioned a dossier of charges against Mr Bashir which will form the basis of an indictment. This will include charges relating to the Marriott Hotel attack in August last year, in which 12 people died. A court in Jakarta has sentenced a 31-year-old Indonesian, Idris, to ten years imprisonment for his part in the same attack. The defendant confessed to helping prepare the attack. He also admitted being involved in the October 2002 Bali bombings but the court could...

JAKARTA -- An Indonesian court on Tuesday sentenced a Muslim militant to 10 years in jail for helping plan last year's J.W. Marriott Hotel bombing, but acquitted him of involvement in the 2002 Bali attacks. The court ruled that Jhoni Hendrawan, alias Idris, could not be prosecuted over the Bali case, in which 202 people died, because of a ruling last month by the country's Constitutional Court prohibiting the retroactive application of the anti-terror law used to charge him. 'In light of the Constitutional Court decision to declare invalid the retroactive use of the anti-terror law, we reject the second...

The Bali bombers believed they were fulfilling the wishes of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden when they killed more than 200 people on Indonesia's tourist island in October 2002, a repentant Malaysian militant has said. Bin Laden's call on Muslims to kill Americans was passed on to members of Southeast Asia's Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terror network by two of its leaders, Hambali and Abu Bakar Bashir, Mohamed Nasir Abas told private television station TV3 in an interview. "Both Hambali and Abu Bakar Bashir issued the fatwa (religious edict) from Osama Bin Laden which says all Muslims must defend themselves and...

Indonesian police have arrested a man suspected of being implicated in the deadly Marriott hotel bombing in Jakarta in August 2003, a local daily reports. The Kompas daily quotes East Java Police Chief Inspector General Firman Gani as saying the man, 'Dahlan', was arrested in the East Java town of Ngawi on Thursday. "There was an arrest, of a suspect of that bombing. It was made by a team from the national police headquarters in the territorial jurisdiction of the East Java police," he said. The hotel attack is blamed on the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah regional terror network, which is...

JAKARTA (Reuters) - A young Islamic militant accused of involvement in last year's bombing of a U.S.-run hotel in Indonesia told a court Monday he had targeted Americans and regretted that all but one of those killed were his countrymen. Prosecutors charged Mohamad Rais, 28, with helping to organize the Aug. 5 bombing of the JW Marriott hotel that killed 12 people, including a Dutch man, and wounded 150. He faces the death penalty if convicted. "I'm remorseful because Muslims became victims. The ones who I targeted were Americans. Now I have to be accountable because I was indeed involved...

Two Indonesian Muslim militants, who have confessed to bombing the Marriott hotel in Jakarta, have expressed remorse for the attack and apologised to families of the victims. "I admit that I did it - I apologise to families of the victims sincerely without any pressure from others and to the Muslim community who have felt the slander and negative impacts of my actions," Tohir told SCTV television. The August 5 car bombing at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta killed 12 people, including a Dutch banker. Tohir and his alleged accomplice Ismail were arrested on Wednesday local time in their...

Marriott attackers were planning more blasts, police say JAKARTA : Four men who helped stage a deadly Jakarta hotel bombing were planning more blasts when police raided their hideouts, Indonesia's top detective said. Two Indonesians, who intended to blow themselves up to avoid capture, were seized in a hotel room before they could detonate five bombs they were carrying. But two other prime suspects -- Malaysians who were also deeply involved in last year's Bali attack -- fled from detectives who approached the rented home where they were hiding out, detective chief Erwin Mappaseng told a press conference. Police got...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Money sent by al-Qaida to support the families of suspects arrested in the Oct. 12 Bali bombings was used to finance the Aug. 5 attack on the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta, Indonesian terror suspect Hambali has told investigators, a media report said Sunday. Hambali also reportedly said that Jemaah Islamiyah, the group blamed for the Bali bombings that killed 202 people and the attack on the Marriott, received "operational funds" from senior al-Qaida leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Indonesian police were not immediately available for comment on the report in Sunday's respected Media Indonesia daily....

TERRORIST group Jemaah Islamiyah has drawn up plans for a suicide bombing campaign designed to transform Asia and the Pacific region into Islamic provinces. Alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah, Abu Bakar Bashir / AP The scheme is revealed in a 40-page manifesto - the Pupji book or General Guide to the Struggle of JI - which also shows that Jemaah Islamiyah is a well-formed organisation with a constitution, rules of operation, and leadership structure. The book refers to "love of Jihad in the path of God and love of dying as a martyr" as one of the group's 10...

When people talk about the root causes of terrorism, I think about Sue Malony and Donna Croxford, two victims of a terrorist attack in Bali, Indonesia, on October 12, 2002 that killed 202 people including 88 Australians. Sue and Donna lived in Elwood and Port Melbourne respectively, suburbs in my constituency in Melbourne, where I serve as a federal member of parliament. Sue and Donna were killed whilst enjoying a holiday in Bali, and now Donna leaves behind a disabled four-year-old. As justification for their murderous acts in Bali, two of the known perpetrators, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim and Imam Samudra,...

Jakarta: Hambali is known to have sent funds totalling 45,000 US dollars to "bomb" Indonesia through a Malaysian national given the alias Li-Li. It is now being analysed to find out if this money was used for the Marriott bombing. This was announced by Indonesia's senior detective Commissioner General Erwin Mappasang at a press conference in Jakarta police headquarters today (Tuesday 19 August). "The police are still investigating whether or not Hambali played a role in the Marriott bombing because it is certainly known that a Malaysian citizen arrested in Thailand under the alias Li-Li was sent 45,000 US dollars...

Indonesian police say a Malaysian bombmaker was responsible for both the Bali bombings last year and the hotel bombing in Jakarta earlier this month. Indonesia's chief of detectives says Azahari bin Husin - who was educated in Australia - is one of a group of 16 who were involved in the latest attack on the Marriott hotel. Many of those involved are already in custody. Dr Azahari is still at large, along with another Bali bomb suspect named in connection to the Marriott attack, fellow Malaysian Noordin Mohammed Top. Two others already under arrest in connection with the Bali plot...

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Aug. 17 — Security forces surrounded hotels, churches and foreign offices Sunday as Indonesia celebrated its Independence Day amid warnings of terrorist attacks after the arrest of al-Qaida’s alleged point man in Southeast Asia. After ceremonies at the presidential palace in Jakarta, national police chief Gen. Da’i Bachtiar announced that nine suspects had been arrested in connection with the Aug. 5 attack on the Marriott Hotel in the capital, in which 12 people were killed and nearly 150 injured. BACHTIAR SAID the nine had been picked up in separate raids over the past week. He gave no further...

Aug 17, 1:24 AM EDT JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Nine people have been arrested in connection with last week's attack on the Marriot Hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people and injured nearly 150, the national police chief said Sunday. Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said the nine suspects had been picked up in separate raids over the past week. He gave no further details. On Friday, police said they had detained one suspect and were interrogating several others in connection with the attack on Aug. 5 in downtown Jakarta. Bachtiar's announcement came two days after the arrest in Thailand of Hambali,...

JAKARTA - The man who was going to blow himself up was getting nervous as he drove the Kijang van into the JW Marriott Hotel driveway. Waiting by the right side of the U-shaped roundabout leading to the lobby entrance, 28-year-old Asmar Latin Sami grew even more edgy when two security guards walked towards his silver-coloured van. As they got closer, he pushed the button which triggered an explosion that ripped through the hotel, killing 11 people and injuring 150. It was a major blunder for him and the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorist network. Investigators believed they botched up the...

Bangkok: The arrest of Hambali, al-Qaeda's top man in Asia and suspected mastermind behind last year's Bali bombing, is being hailed as a major breakthrough in the US-led war against terrorism. The terrorist chief was reported to be planning to attack October's APEC summit in Bangkok. Hambali was captured in Thailand, handed over to the Americans and flown to Indonesia, officials said today. However Indonesian ministers and police denied any knowledge he was in their country. Asia's most wanted man, now clean-shaven and his face altered by plastic surgery, was arrested together with his wife by Thai and US officials...

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) - The White House announced Thursday the capture of a man described as al-Qaida's chief representative and operational planner in Southeast Asia, calling his apprehension "a significant blow to the enemy." He was identified as Riduan Bin Isomuddin, also known as Hambali. "His capture is another important victory in the global war on terrorism and a significant blow to the enemy," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters aboard Air Force One as President Bush flew from Texas to speaking engagements in southern California. A senior administration official described the suspect as "one of the...

The al-Qaeda terrorist network has singled out Australia for mention while claiming responsibility for last week's bombing of the Marriott Hotel in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, CNN reported, as police released images of two men wanted for the attack. The claim, which also promises more attacks, comes amid reports that one man who carried out the bombing was a member of a 15-strong suicide squad ready to strike at unspecified targets. But Clive Williams, a leading Australian expert on terrorism from the Australian National University, said al-Qaeda had a history of claiming responsibility for bombings it had not in fact...