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Top Bali Bomb Suspect Caught in Pakistan: Report
Adam Goldman | March 30, 2011

Umar Patek, shown here in a wanted poster, is suspected of being the field commander for the 2002 Bali bombings. He was arrested in Pakistan in January. (AP Photo) Umar Patek, shown here in a wanted poster, is suspected of being the field commander for the 2002 Bali bombings. He was arrested in Pakistan in January. (AP Photo)
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PeterGriffin
6:40pm Mar 30, 2011

Jeanne - your are stealing my words - a round of bacon sanggers to both Patek and Bashir - followed by desert - a bullet in the back of the head for each.

Valkyrie
6:15pm Mar 30, 2011

TakingTosh:

Thanks, I certainly deserve to be checked. As a consolation, may I say that it sometimes happens to the best of us?

Cheers!


jchay
4:46pm Mar 30, 2011

I've been offering a simple solution since I don't know when: Just drop Umar Patek with Bashir in the same empty isolated island nowhere found in the map, just the two of them, and let them live together happily ever after till death do them part... while none of us and our kids ever remember who they were in the history of humankind.


Jeanne Hachette
4:01pm Mar 30, 2011

Let's get the hose for the water boarding to squeeze all infos from this bastard but probably better to choke him with a piece of bacon.

TakingTosh
2:24pm Mar 30, 2011

Sorry to disagree with you Valkyrie - I do understand how you feel, but better to demonstrate to the world that law and justice can prevail, and in doing so show that the death of our enemies is not what what civilized people seek. Now, as for losing the key to his jail cell, and denying him any contact with humanity until he goes to meet his maker .......

Washington. A senior Indonesian al-Qaida operative wanted in the 2002 Bali bombings has been arrested in Pakistan, a rare high-profile capture that could provide valuable intelligence about the organization and possible future plots.

Umar Patek, a suspected member of the al-Qaida-linked militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, was arrested earlier this year in Pakistan, foreign intelligence sources said Tuesday.

It is not clear if Pakistan stumbled on Patek or his capture was the result of an intelligence tip. Details about what he was doing in Pakistan also remain murky, raising questions about whether he was there to plan an attack with al-Qaida's top operational leaders as the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 200l looms over the U.S.

Patek, 40, a Javanese Arab, is well-known to intelligence agencies across the world. He is believed to have served as he group's deputy field commander in the nightclub bombings that left 202 people dead, many of them foreigners.

The US was offering a $1 million reward for the arrest of the slight Patek — who's known as the "little Arab " — in the attack that killed seven Americans.

News of his arrest came from two intelligence officials in Indonesia and Philippines. Patek's exact whereabouts were not immediately known. Both spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the information.

The question of what to do with him could become a key indicator of how President Barack Obama will handle major terrorist suspects captured abroad. However, American officials declined to comment on the case.

Patek is believed to have been among a group of Indonesians, Malaysians and Filipinos who traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan during the 1980s and 1990s for training and fighting.

On their return to Southeast Asia, they formed Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for a string of suicide bombings targeting nightclubs, restaurants, hotels, and a Western embassy in Indonesia. Together more than 260 people have died.

Patek fled to the southern Philippines after the Bali bombings, seeking refuge and training with both the MILF and later, Abu Sayyaf, security experts have said.

But he is believed to have remained heavily engaged in Jemaah Islamiyah operations at home. His arrest in Pakistan is likely to raise questions over how such a high-profile terrorist can travel across international borders. There are also likely to be competing interests among intelligence agencies as each jockey for control over Patek.

In March 2010, Patek was believed to be in Sulu Province in the far southern Philippines. According to the Jamestown Foundation, a national security policy institute in Washington, Patek was one of the "last senior JI (Jemaah Islamiyah) commanders with significant experience" in the original Afghan al-Qaida camps and longstanding ties to the international jihadist network and its donors.

Associated Press writers Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines; Chris Brummitt in Islamabad, Pakisan; and Matt Apuzzo in Washington D.C. contributed to this report.
   
Associated Press.