Pakistan ready to hand suspected militant to Indonesia

Indonesian man suspected of being an Islamist involved in the 2002 bombings on Bali could be extradited to Indonesia.

ISLAMABAD: An Indonesian man held in Pakistan and suspected of being an Islamist involved in the 2002 bombings on Bali could be extradited to Indonesia if his identity is confirmed, Pakistani officials said on Friday.

Pakistani security forces arrested a man they believe to be Umar Patek, Indonesia's most wanted militant, after a shootout a few weeks ago and are waiting for Indonesian officials to come and identify him.

"An Indonesian team is coming. It is expected to be here soon," a senior intelligence official told Reuters.

"We are going to hand him over to Indonesian authorities. There is no plan to hand him over to the Americans," he said, without giving further details.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua confirmed the arrest of an Indonesian man and said he could be Patek.

"Consular access will be given to the Indonesian mission and it will be for them to determine exactly who the person is, but, yes, a person has been arrested," she added.

Security analysts say Patek is one of the few Indonesian militants who would be able to explain to authorities the connections and extent of cooperation between Islamist militant groups in Asia.

An Indonesian government official said on Wednesday the suspect was reported to have been injured during the arrest along with some members of a Pakistani militant group.

The Bali nightclub bombings in 2002 killed 202 people. Since then several key figures in the Southeast Asian network Jemaah Islamiah (JI) that was blamed for the attacks have been killed or captured.

In 2003, Pakistani forces arrested Gun Gun Gunawan, brother of Riduan Islamuddin, alias Hambali, al Qaeda's chief link to Asia, accused of masterminding a string of bombings in Southeast Asia, in a raid on a madrassa or Islamic seminary in Karachi.

A large number of militants allied to al Qaeda and the Taliban fled to Pakistan after U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.

Pakistani security forces captured hundreds of al Qaeda militants and have handed many of them over to the United States in the past few years.