Bali bombings 2002: French terror suspects arrested in Pakistan

The two suspects are allegedly connected to Umar Patek.


Afp April 15, 2011

ISLAMABAD:


Two French nationals suspected of belonging to an international terror group have been arrested by Pakistan’s security services, French and Pakistani sources said on Thursday.


The two are suspected of being part of the group responsible for the bloody attacks in Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people, the worst terror attack in Indonesia, according to security officials, who requested anonymity.

The terror group is the one allegedly connected to Indonesian Umar Patek, who was himself recently arrested in Pakistan.

The arrests were confirmed in Paris by two sources close to the French intelligence services, adding that they had been detained several weeks ago.

France has asked the Pakistani authorities for permission to visit the two detainees, a representative at the French embassy in Islamabad told AFP.

Senior Indonesian and Pakistani officials announced late last month that Patek was in Pakistani custody.

Indonesian counter-terrorism police had been tracking Patek for years. One of the most wanted extremists in Southeast Asia, he had a $1 million bounty on his head under the US government’s “Rewards for Justice” programme.

Patek is a suspected member of al Qaeda-linked Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), blamed for a series of deadly bombings targeting Christians and Westerners in Indonesia dating back to 1999.

Indonesian authorities had believed he was hiding among militants in southern Philippines. The International Crisis Group think tank reported in 2008 that he had become the commander of foreign jihadists there.

Patek reportedly returned to Indonesia early last year to join a new militant group being set up in Aceh province by another alleged Bali ringleader, Dulmatin.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 15th, 2011.

COMMENTS (4)

Cautious | 12 years ago | Reply And you wonder why Pakistan is considered the nexus of terrorism? It did not happen by accident.
Leave us alone | 12 years ago | Reply I don't get it. How do these foreign nationals get into the country in the first place? Do they enter through our airports?
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