Bangkok, Sept 21: Alleged terror chief Hambali has admitted planning to bomb embassies and use missiles to attack commercial airliners in Bangkok, said a Thai security official involved in his August arrest.
"During interrogation, Hambali admitted that he was
preparing to bomb (backpacker area) Khao San road, and the
embassies of the United States, Israel and Japan," the source
said, adding that he had already scouted the sites.
"He was also planning to use missiles to attack planes at
Bangkok international airport," the source told, speaking
on condition of anonymity.
The source said the attacks were not necessarily timed
for the October 20-21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
summit, when 21 leaders including US President George W Bush
will converge on the Thai capital.
"He said that the planned attacks could have been
executed as soon as he was ready, not necessarily during the
APEC summit," he said, referring to reports the attacks were
planned to disrupt the meeting.
Asia's most wanted man was arrested in Thailand on August
11 during a raid on his modest rented apartment in the central
town of Ayutthaya.
Hambali is believed to be the Asian Pointman for the
al-Qaeda group which is blamed for the September 11 attacks
on the United States, and the operations chief of Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI), a Southeast Asian terror network accused of
carrying out last October's Bali bombings and a string of
other attacks.
Bureau Report
