Foreign gov’ts welcome bomber’s killing

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer welcomed yesterday the reported killing in North Cotabato of fugitive terrorist Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi.

Authorities said late Sunday that Al-Ghozi, who escaped from jail in Camp Crame, Quezon City last July 14, was shot dead in an apparent shootout in Barangay Pugon in Pigkawayan town.

"It’s a step forward in terms of getting terrorist organizations in Southeast Asia under control," Downer told national radio in Sydney.

"I think that’s the best way of putting it. I don’t ever want to say the risk is gone. The risk is there."

In Manila, US Ambassador Francis Ricciardoni went to Malacañang and congratulated President Arroyo for the killing of Al-Ghozi.

Karen Kelley, US embassy spokeswoman, said she could confirm if Al-Ghozi’s death had been relayed to President George W. Bush in Washington.

Indonesian chargé d’affaires Alexander Laturiuw said the embassy has been in touch with the family of Al-Ghozi in Indonesia.

"We are now busy with matters related to his death," he said. "We have already contacted his family and we asked them when Al-Ghozi will be buried."

Malaysian Ambassador Mohamed Taufik said he was expecting Al-Ghozi to be captured dead before the arrival of Bush on Oct. 18.

In Singapore, internal security officials also welcomed the reported killing of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) explosives expert linked to an alleged terrorist plot in the city-state.

"Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi is a dangerous JI operative," a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Home Affairs said.

"He is a bomb maker and was also a trainer at the JI camp Hudaibya in the (Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s) main training base, Camp Abubakar," she said.

"Any removal of terrorists such as Al-Ghozi and (previously arrested JI leader) Hambali would be significant to the campaign against the threat of terrorism in the region."

Al-Ghozi was reported to have been shot dead by government troops three months after slipping out of a maximum-security detention facility in Camp Crame.

He had been serving a 17-year jail term for illegal acquisition of explosives.

The Indonesian-born, Afghan-trained demolitions specialist was blamed for the bombing of a Light Rail Transit coach at Blumentritt station in Manila, among other targets in the city, which left 22 people dead in December 2000.

He was also suspected of plotting to strike American and other foreign targets in Singapore after the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States by the Middle-East based al-Qaeda network.

The JI is alleged to be the Southeast Asian wing of al-Qaeda, but experts say it is operationally independent.

Al-Ghozi’s reported death followed the arrest in August of another fugitive Indonesian, Hambali, who was captured in Thailand in August and is now in US custody.

Hambali is said to be the operations chief of the JI.

Singapore authorities said Al-Ghozi and an al-Qaeda man directed JI terrorists to prepare for bomb attacks on US and other targets in the city-state in October 2001.

The group was plotting to rig six trucks with explosives to attack the US, Israeli, British and Australian embassies, as well as commercial buildings housing US firms, the ministry said in a report early this year.

The trucks were to be driven by suicide bombers, believed to be Arabs, who would be brought into Singapore a day before the attacks. — Marvin Sy, AFP