Related Bali Trail(s) links
Yet another Bali Bomber we have not heard of:
By Emma-
July 16, 2007 12:00am
The Philippines army believes it is close to capturing Bali bombing mastermind Dulmatin, after an informant contacted the military offering to "surrender" one of the region's most wanted terrorists.
Eugenio Cedo, commander of Philippines forces in Western Mindanao, told The Australian he received a message last week from a member of the Islamic guerilla group, the Moro National Liberation Front.
The informant promised he could lead Philippines forces on remote Jolo island in the southern province of Sulu to the lair of Dulmatin.
Dulmatin is a key figure in Jemaah Islamiah. He has been hiding out in the southern Philippines along with his Bali bombing crony Umar Patek since 2003.
"I think we have a good prospect of finding him," General Cedo said. "I received this message saying Dulmatin would be surrendered to us."
The US Government has offered a $US10 million ($11.5 million) bounty for his capture.
Since planning the 2002 Bali bombs that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians,
Dulmatin has been accused of joining forces with the Abu Sayyaf, the Philippines
al-
General Cedo said the informant had even pinpointed the precise location of Dulmatin on Jolo.
Under pressure to demonstrate concrete gains in the costly search, he said Dulmatin was still surrounded by thousands of troops and had not escaped through the military dragnet to Malaysia.
Australian Federal Police officers based in the Philippines offer logistics assistance, advice and intelligence to their Philippines counterparts in the search.
They remain sceptical about the chances of the Philippines army finding Dulmatin, who is known to have dressed as a woman, donning a burka to avoid detection.
Philippines military chief Hermogenes Esperon told The Australian last night he was
looking forward to upgraded military ties between Manila and Canberra after the signing
of the Philippines-
General Esperon said the agreement would be ratified by the Philippines Senate "no sweat".
Joint military exercises, expected to be held in Mindanao, would begin soon afterwards.
August 11, 2007 02:00am
ACCUSED Bali bomber Hambali and the senior al-
Hambali and Khalid Mohammed, who says he planned the terror attacks on New York and Washington, have been formally declared "enemy combatants" by the Pentagon.
If they are eventually found guilty they could face the death penalty.
Hambali and Mohammed are among 14 so-
The Pentagon has announced that all 14 had been designated as "enemy combatants",
one of the steps required to face the specially set up war-
The next stage in the prosecution will involve bringing charges against the suspects.
The US military commission system has so far only successfully tried one person -
The system has been hampered by lengthy delays and faces fresh legal challenges after two cases were thrown out because of a dispute over the designation of the words "enemy combatant".
Earlier this year the 14 "high value" detainees went before Combatant Status Review Tribunals at Guantanamo Bay to determine if they were enemy combatants.
By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 12:34pm (Mla time) 08/16/2007
MANILA, Philippines -
Esperon said troops who figured in the encounter in Maimbung town claimed to have seen Dulmatin wounded. He said the military received similar reports from civilian informants.
Dulmatin, who carries a $10-
Last week, the military reported that Gumbahali Jumdail alias Doctor Abu, was also wounded in the encounter.
"We have reports [on the wounding] of Doctor Abu. We have a report on Dulmatin… But we don't know exactly where he was hit," Esperon told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo.
"From the accounts of participants as well as civilians [Dulmatin was wounded], but
we are not saying that it's confirmed. The verification
will continue," he said.
Esperon cited the case of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Kahdaffy Janjalani, who was reported to have been fatally wounded in an encounter with Marine troops in Patikul, Sulu on September 4.
"Let's allow the system to work, meaning verification, collection of data. Let's just wait," he said.
But Janjalani's death was confirmed only in January, after his remains, which were exhumed in December, was submitted for DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) testing by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States.
Esperon said the reported wounding of Dulmatin and Doc Abu would work to the military's advantage.
"If you have a wounded comrade, the tendency would be not to really engage in operations, but simply to hide," he said.
Fifteen soldiers were killed in the August 9 encounter in Maimbung. An ambush on an Army convoy in the same town earlier that day left nine soldiers dead on the spot, while two others died later at the hospital.
The 26 fatalities on August 9 was the biggest single day casualty sustained by the military in recent years.
Four encounters from August 9 to 7 left 27 soldiers and 32 bandits killed, and dozen other combatants wounded.
JAKARTA, Indonesia: Ten Islamic militants jailed for suicide bombings on Bali that killed more than 220 people — many of them foreign tourists — had several months shaved off their sentences Friday to mark Indonesia's Independence Day.
It is a local tradition to cut jail terms on holidays, but the decision was likely to anger countries that lost citizens in the 2002 and 2005 attacks on the resort island's crowded nightclubs and restaurants.
The father of one of the victims lambasted the "blatant disregard" for those who died.
Those who benefited from Friday's remissions were serving between eight and 18 years on a variety of charges, including helping to plan the bombings, sheltering the main suspects and setting up a Web site explaining how to kill foreigners.
Six men involved in the Oct. 12, 2002, terror strikes that claimed 202 lives — 88 of them Australians — had their sentences cut by five months for good behaviour, said Ilham Djaya, chief warden at Bali's main prison.
Four others convicted in the 2005 attacks that left 20 people dead received two-
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has been hit by a string of terrorist
attacks blamed on the al-
But it has not suffered a suicide bombing in nearly two years, thanks largely to
the arrest and imprisonment of hundreds of suspects, prompting the country's president
to claim victory Thursday in the so-
Australian Brian Deegan, who lost his 21-
"The original punishments ... could hardly be called dissuasive for persons who might
be like-
The government says all prisoners in Indonesia have a constitutional right to sentence reductions, regardless of their crimes, except for those serving life in prison or on death row.
Justice and Human Rights Minister Andi Matalatta said about 64,000 inmates received cuts on Friday, most by a few months, and of those about 6,600 were freed.
Among those who did not benefit was Australian Schapelle Corby, who was sentenced to 20 years in 2005 for smuggling 4.2 kilograms (9 pounds) of marijuana to Bali.
Djaya said the high-
____
Associated Press writer Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, contributed to this report.