The Jakarta Post, 12/15/2003 7:29:41 PM
Indonesia seeks U.S. cooperation in student probe
JAKARTA (Reuters): Indonesian police asked the United States on Monday for
access to top captured Muslim militant Hambali, saying questioning him was crucial
for investigating other suspects, including his brother.
Hambali's younger brother was among six Indonesian students detained in Pakistan
in September for suspected terror links and returned to Indonesia this week.
National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said access to Indonesian-born Hambali,
alias Riduan Isamuddin, arrested by U.S. agents in Thailand in August, would help
clear up many terror investigations in the world's most populous Muslim country.
"What we are developing in this investigation is connected to what we have known
about their links to Hambali," Da'i told reporters when asked about the interrogation of
the students.
"We again remind the United States that if we all want to develop this investigation,
we must get access to Hambali. We should process Hambali here because he is
involved in many cases in Indonesia," he said.
Hambali was belived to have been the top commander of the Jamaah Islamiah, a
Southeast Asian Muslim militant group.
The group, believed by investigators to be a wing of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, has
been blamed for several attacks, including last year's bombings on Indonesia's Bali
island that killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.
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