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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...

<p>JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- The al Qaeda terrorist network has claimed responsibility for last week's bombing of the Marriott Hotel in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and is promising more attacks, terror experts have confirmed for CNN.</p> <p>The claim was released to al Qaeda sympathizer and Arab media sites over the weekend in an unsigned statement.</p>

SOLO, Indonesia (Reuters) - In a message sent from his jail cell, the Indonesian cleric believed to lead the militant Jemaah Islamiah group urged Muslims Sunday to adhere to their faith without fear of being labeled ``terrorists.''The fiery address from Abu Bakar Bashir came as officials at a school he set up confirmed that a man identified by police as the suicide bomber who triggered last week's huge blast at Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel was one of their pupils.The speech also comes just two days before Jakarta prosecutors will sum up their case against the frail cleric, who is on...

JAKARTA, INDONESIA--Even as a top Bali bomber awaits execution and Indonesia basks in world praise for firmly tackling terrorism, investigators say they are confronted with a network of terror far wider than previously imagined. A devastating blast at the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta two days before the bomber's sentencing has reinforced suspicion that Islamic militancy in the world's most populous Muslim country is taking on new, more dangerous dimensions. Jemaah Islamiyah, the al-Qaida linked Southeast Asian terror network blamed for both the Bali and Marriott attacks, is employing methods previously unheard of in Indonesia. It uses a loosely defined command...

THIS week's mass casualty bombing in Jakarta demonstrates that Jemaah Islamiah continues to pose a significant threat to South-East Asia and to Australia. Several months ago, US interrogators asked Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the September 11 mastermind and former head of al-Qa'ida's military committee, whether JI poses a threat to continental US. His response? JI is a parochial group and will only conduct attacks in SouthEast Asia and Australia. JI had been in existence for nearly a decade before the regional security and intelligence community came to know of its presence. Why was JI able to operate below the intelligence radar...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- The perpetrators of this week's deadly car bombing at Jakarta's Marriott Hotel trained with al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Indonesia's defense minister said, adding that there are many more terrorists still in the country. Matori Abdul Djalil said that the bombers were linked to a group of people arrested last month in the eastern town of Semarang and alleged to be members of the al-Qaida-linked Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah. Matori said the terror group was behind both the Marriott blast, which killed 10 people and injured 150, and the Oct. 12 Bali nightclub...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi and U.S. investigators have enough clues to track down the culprits behind a truck bomb attack on the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad that killed 17 people and wounded scores, a senior Iraqi politician said on Friday. Iyad Allawi, head of the security committee of Iraq's U.S.- appointed Governing Council, said those responsible for Thursday's blast could be identified within days. "Investigations are under way to identify the perpetrators," he told Reuters. "Luckily some clues about the crime were left behind and we believe that within a few days (the investigations) will produce results toward identifying the...

Indonesian police say two members of the banned terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah have identified a head found on the fifth floor of Jakarta's Marriott Hotel - further evidence that JI carried out Tuesday's attack. The chief of detectives, Erwin Mappaseng, said members of a JI group arrested in Sumatra in June had identified the head as belonging to Asmar Latin Sami, a 28-year-old originally from Padang in West Sumatra, but recently living in Sumatra's south. "The two Jemaah Islamiah members recruited Asmar Latin Sani . . . They knew him well," Mr Mappaseng said. He identified the two JI members...

<p>Indonesian Vice President Hamzah Haz is slated to open the annual congress of a radical Muslim organization with close ties to Jemaah Islamiyah, the group suspected of the Marriott Hotel and Bali bombings.</p> <p>Western scholars who follow the growth of militant Islam in Indonesia say that Mr. Haz hopes such an appearance will win him support among Muslim voters ahead of next April's national elections.</p>

THE car bomb attack on the Marriott hotel in Jakarta was recorded by a security camera, and police believe they are close to identifying the suicide bomber. Tuesday's attack, two days before yesterday's Bali verdict and after a spate of global terror warnings, killed 10 people and wounded 147, police confirmed. Initial suspicions have focused on the shadowy Jemaah Islamiyah militant Muslim group. Police will seek DNA samples from the family of the suspected bomber to match body parts found at the scene, senior police officer Gorris Mere said. He identified a suspect as Asmal and said police had intercepted...

<p>JAKARTA, Indonesia &#8212; Police said yesterday they seized documents last month showing terrorists were planning to target the area around Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel, where a powerful car bomb this week killed up to 14 persons and injured nearly 150.</p>

DENPASAR, BALI (Reuters): A key suspect on trial for the Bali bombings on Wednesday hailed a powerful blast in Jakarta that killed up to 10 people, before launching a verbal attack on Australians. Asked by reporters how he felt about the Tuesday bombing at the JW Marriott Hotel, Imam Samudra said: "I am happy, thanks be to God, even more so if those who did it are Muslims." He was speaking as he left the court, where he had appeared as a witness in one of the Bali bombing trials. Samudra indicated he hoped the victims were Jews. He also...

INDONESIAN police confirmed late yesterday the Jakarta Marriott Hotel bomb was made from the same chemicals as terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah used to make the October 12 Bali bomb and an earlier bomb which exploded outside the Jakarta residence of the Philippines Ambassador. Jakarta chief detective Erwin Mapasseng confirmed police had found the engine and chassis numbers of the red Toyota car bomb and had located its owner. However, the owner sold the car about two weeks ago to a man he described as about 160cm tall with a strong muscular body who spoke a dialect not common in Jakarta....

<p>HONOLULU &#8212; Officials in Washington and at U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii expressed growing concern about security threats in Indonesia months before yesterday's bombing of the Marriott Hotel in downtown Jakarta.</p> <p>One U.S. officer with access to comprehensive intelligence recently lamented what he called "a chaotic situation" in Indonesia.</p>

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- An explosion outside a Marriot Hotel in downtown Jakarta killed four people on Tuesday, radio reports said. It was not immediately clear whether the blast was caused by a bomb. However, since last year's terrorist bombings in Bali, which killed 202 people, authorities have warned that more attacks were likely. "I saw four badly burned bodies on the street," a reporter from Jakarta's El Shinta radio station said, adding that two cars nearby were on fire. Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang, a police spokesman, said he had heard the report and that officers were on their...

<p>JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- An explosion at the Marriott hotel in central Jakarta has left at least 6 people injured.</p> <p>The blast occurred just before 1 p.m. (0600 GMT) on Tuesday, shattering scores of plate-glass windows at the front of the hotel.</p>

Australian killed in blast NATIONAL police spokesman Zainury Lubis has confirmed the death toll for the Jakarta blast is 10 - including one Australian. One American and one Malaysian, as well as seven others, were killed in the blast. No identities or further details were released. Police were continuing to comb the wreckage for further victims. The US victim was among seven bodies at the state-run Cipto Mangunkusumo hospital morgue. An ambulance crew was seen unloading seven plastic bags containing body parts but the crew declined to comment. "It looks like they were all burned," said a morgue official, Oyon,...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Police on Wednesday said they seized documents last month showing terrorists had planned to target the area around Jakarta's Marriott Hotel, where a powerful car bomb a day earlier killed as many as 14 people and injured nearly 150. Security forces had increased patrols in the Marriott area in response to the seizure but the precautions weren't enough to prevent the suspected suicide attack, which underscored the continuing threat of terrorism in the world's largest Muslim nation. "There was a warning that there were some targets and we have been anticipating an attack," said Jakarta police...

<p>JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Indonesian police are investigating the owner of a car used in the deadly bombing of a hotel in Jakarta that killed at least 14 people and injured more than 100.</p> <p>Searching through rubble of the JW Marriott, forensic experts have found clues that could link Tuesday's blast to attacks last year in Bali, CNN has learned.</p>

The United States have condemned the car bombing of a US-run hotel in Jakarta Tuesday, calling it a "terrorist attack". "We strongly condemn this terrorist attack," spokesman Scott McClellan said in the Texas town where President George W Bush is on vacation, adding it was a "deplorable terrorist attack on innocent civilians". The bomb ripped through the US-run JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta Tuesday, killing at least 13 people and leaving over 100 injured in an attack police compared to the Bali bombing. Mr McClellan refused to comment on any possible involvement of the Al Qaeda network but said the...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A suspected suicide bombing at the Marriott Hotel created carnage in Jakarta's business district Tuesday, killing 13 people and wounding 149, setting cars afire and scattering glass shards for blocks in a bloody reminder of the continuing threat of terrorism in the world's most populous Muslim nation. The blast came two days before a verdict in the trial of a key suspect in the Bali nightclub bombings last Oct. 12 that killed 202 people, many of them foreigners. A Dutch banker was among the dead Tuesday, and at least 10 foreigners, including two Americans, were reported...

Here is a chronology of blasts which have rocked Indonesia in the past three years: August 5, 2003: A car bomb tears through the luxury American-owned JW Marriott hotel in southern Jakarta, killing at least 10 people. July 14, 2003: A bomb explodes at Indonesia's parliament building, just days after the arrest of suspects of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terror network who are said to be planning attacks. The blast shatters windows and a door in an office area but no one is hurt. April 27, 2003: A bomb rips through a restaurant area at Indonesia's main international airport, injuring...