Fed: Hambali capture does not eliminate APEC terror risk: US

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Fed: Hambali capture does not eliminate APEC terror risk: US

By Rob Taylor, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

CANBERRA, Aug 17 AAP - The US has warned the capture of terror mastermind Hambali hasnot eliminated the threat to the upcoming Asia-Pacific leader's summit, which Prime MinisterJohn Howard still plans to attend.

Hambali, an Indonesian whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, was arrested last weekin Thailand, where authorities said he was plotting an attack on the Asia Pacific EconomicCooperation (APEC) forum summit in October.

The summit in Bangkok will bring together several regional leaders, including Mr Howardand US President George W Bush.

But US deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said the capture of the man saidto be the operational head of the al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiah network, did not meanthe risk to the summit had vanished.

"That would be a foolish assumption," he said.

"We have a top planner, we do not have all the members of al-Qaeda in our possession,or JI in this case.

"I think the better assumption is that these fellows are out to do us ill and we oughtto take every precaution against this."

Mr Howard said despite the risk, he would attend APEC unless he received strong intelligenceto advise him against doing so.

"I'm going to the meeting unless there's some very powerful advice to the contrary," he said.

"I don't particularly think about my own personal safety."

Mr Howard said it was speculative to suggest Hambali, 37, had already done the necessaryplanning for an attack on the APEC summit.

Mr Armitage said there was no bar to Australian authorities talking to Hambali, whowas being interrogated in a secret location, but he could not say if they would be alloweddirect access.

"Certainly we will share all information as we have been doing for the last severalyears, we will take any inquiries, questions that the Australian authorities may haveand put it to Hambali," he said.

"We've just captured this guy .... (we're) trying to get as much information as quicklyas possible so we can stop any threats that might be sort of in the planning process."

Malaysian newspapers, citing unidentified sources, said he had been flown to the USMarine base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where other terrorist suspects including two Australiansare being held.

Hambali is suspected of being the planner of the Bali bombings and of having a rolein terror strikes from the September 11 atrocities in the US to last week's bombing ofthe JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta.

Mr Howard refused to confirm or deny reports Australian intelligence played a partin intercepting a phone call that led to his arrest.

He said he was reluctant to go into operational details, although he confirmed Australiacooperated with its neighbours about intelligence relating to terrorism, including Thailand.

AAP rft/cjh/jlw

KEYWORD: HAMBALI AUST NIGHTLEAD