The White House last night announced the capture of a man described as the mastermind of the Bali bombing: al-Qaeda’s chief representative and operational planner in south-east Asia.
Described by President George Bush as ”one of the world’s most lethal terrorists”, Riduan bin Isamuddin was captured in south-east Asia and is now in US custody at an undisclosed location.
”His capture is another important victory in the global war on terrorism and a significant blow to the enemy,” the White House spokesperson Scott McClellan told reporters.
A senior administration official said the suspect’s group, Jemaah Islamiyah, was linked to last year’s Bali bombing and a series of deadly church bombings in the Philippines.
Bin Isamuddin is also a leading suspect in the recent Marriot hotel bombing in Jakarta and said to be a close associate of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged September 11 mastermind captured earlier this year.
In a separate development, the authorities in Saudi Arabia have embarked on a vast anti-terrorism operation in which up to 12 000 citizens will be questioned at the behest of the US, a Saudi opposition group has told the Guardian.
”The Saudi government is doing a full-scale sweeping activity,” said Saad al-Fagih, of the London-based Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia.
”This is causing occasional confrontations with members [of militant groups] who have taken a decision not to surrender themselves.”
Several sources in the kingdom had told him of a ”substantial list”, provided by the US, naming Saudi citizens who were to be questioned or arrested, he said. One put the number at 12 000. Others gave lower figures but all were well into the thousands. ”There are strong signs that the number is 12 000,” Fagih added.
The information had been compiled by the US from various countries, including Pakistan, Bosnia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, he said.
Some names were included because they had been mentioned by suspects under interrogation but others were on the list because of money transfers or travel bookings.
”It doesn’t mean they are all suspects or wanted, but they all have to be interviewed,” Fagih added.
Saudi Arabia is reluctant to admit cooperating with the US for fear of inflaming domestic opinion, but it also needs to placate American critics who say it has done too little to combat terrorism.
The result of that, say security analysts, is that Riyadh and Washington collaborate in private far more extensively than either side will admit.
There is no doubt that Saudi Arabia is in the midst of an unprecedented security trawl. In recent weeks at least 15 anti-terrorism raids have been reported — though there have almost certainly been others.
On Wednesday, Britain and the US issued new warnings for travellers to the kingdom. The state department advised American citizens ”to defer non-essential travel”.
It said: ”There is credible information that terrorists have targeted western aviation interests in Saudi Arabia.”
A few hours earlier British Airways suspended all flights after Saudi authorities uncovered an apparent plot to shoot down a BA plane near Riyadh.
Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, told security officials yesterday that the kingdom was engaged in a ”decisive battle” against terrorism and there was ”no room for being neutral or hesitant”.
His remarks reflected the government’s changed atti tude towards internal terrorism which, before the suicide bombings on May 12 that killed 35 people including nine attackers in Riyadh, usually amounted to denying there was a serious problem.
The claim that Saudi authorities are working through a US-supplied list of suspects could not be independently confirmed yesterday, though the US is known to have supplied a shorter list to Yemen.
The kingdom has publicly turned down requests to let the FBI question suspects, so accepting an American list of people to be interviewed by Saudi officials could be a compromise solution. – Guardian Unlimited Â