AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Wednesday March 13, 2002 5:53 PM
FBI director to visit Indonesia for talks on terror
The director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will visit
Indonesia this week for two days of talks with senior officials on combating terrorism.
Robert S. Mueller will visit the resort island of Bali on Friday and Saturday for talks on
"ways to build on existing cooperation in the war against terrorism," the US embassy
announced Wednesday in a brief statement.
Mueller was due in Malaysia Wednesday as part of his regional tour. Sources there
said he is also expected to visit the Philippines.
Indonesia has come under pressure from several quarters to take tougher action
against alleged terrorist leaders based here.
Singapore has named Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who runs a
Muslim boarding school in Central Java, as a leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist
group.
Late last year 13 alleged Jemaah Islamiyah operatives were detained in Singapore for
allegedly plotting to blow up US targets there. Singapore says some of them have
identified Ba'asyir as a leader.
Last week Ba'asyir filed a 100 million dollar lawsuit against the Singapore government.
He has denied any links to international terror but has described Osama bin Laden,
the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the US, as "a true Muslim
fighter".
Singapore has also identified Riduan Hishamuddin, also known as Hambali, as linked
to international terror and the planned attacks in the island republic.
Indonesian police say they have asked Interpol to arrest Hambali in connection with
bombings of Indonesian churches on Christmas Eve 2000, which left 18 people dead.
But they say they have no evidence of his international links.
Laskar Jihad, an Islamic paramilitary force which has waged "holy war" against
Christians in Indonesia's Maluku islands and in Poso in Central Sulawesi, has also
come under international scrutiny. It denies any link to bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
Copyright © 2001 AFP. All rights reserved.
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