Terror links not so strong

Militant Umar’s remarks show ties between al-qaeda and JI may be fraying

JAKARTA: A top Indonesian terror suspect captured in the Pakistani town where Osama bin Laden was later killed insists he was unaware of the al-qaeda leader’s presence there, according to the video of his interrogation.

Alleged master bomb-maker Umar Patek also described his frustration in re-establishing militant ties in his quest to go to Afghanistan and fight American soldiers.

After flying on his own to Pakistan, he waited there for months before a years-old militant contact finally came for him.

His remarks, if true, would further bolster evidence that SouthEast Asia’s Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist movement, responsible for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, is now largely cut off from its longstanding al-qaeda sponsorship, thanks in part to a relentless crackdown that has largely decimated their ranks.

Umar, whose trial resumes today here for his alleged role in the Bali bombings that killed more than 200, was one of the last few remaining ranking Jemaah Islamiyah militants still on the run when Pakistani intelligence agents arrested him a year ago in the northwestern town of Abbottabad.

Four months after Umar’s arrest, US Navy SEALS flew into Abbottabad and killed Osama.

Umar’s arrest from a safe house so close to Osama’s hide-out initially triggered speculation the terrorist leaders of al-qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah in South-east Asia were more connected that had been thought.

Some Indonesian government officials had also hinted at a link.

The 30-minute video of the interrogation by Indonesian police in September on his return home shows the 45-year-old insisting he was in Pakistan on a personal mission to go to Afghanistan with his wife and conduct jihad there.

A smiling Umar, dressed in a white robe and a gold-white striped skull cap, says in the video: “This was a personal mission of mine to journey to Afghanistan.

“No one ordered me to, and I wasn’t out to build a new network.”

“It was pure coincidence that I was in the same town as Osama bin Laden ... It had to be God’s will.”

“All the time I was there, I stayed inside the house. In fact, I never left my room,” said Umar.