Shoutbox

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Originally posted by News.Com.Au


SOUTHEAST Asia's most-wanted terrorist Noordin Mohamed Top has warned Australians to expect more attacks unless John Howard withdraws troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a video message, a balaclava-clad man identified as Top repeatedly stabs his index finger in the air as he threatens to attack the US, Britain, Australia and Italy, countries which he says are "enemies of Islam".

"Accidents and terror by mujaheddin will continue to take place as long as Western countries deploy their soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan," Top says.

"These threats are also valid for all states that assist Bush and Blair, especially for Australia, as long as its troops are in Afghanistan and Iraq and engage in intimidation there. You will also feel our intimidation."

Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla showed the videotaped threat to Muslim leaders from east Java yesterday, telling them he believed the masked man was Top, the fugitive Jemaah Islamiah strategist who narrowly escaped a police dragnet a week ago that trapped and killed JI master bombmaker Azahari bin Husin.

The recording also included final messages from the three suicide bombers who murdered 20 people, including four Australians, in Kuta and Jimbaran Bay on October 1.

In the video, Top warns the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer they would be responsible for further attacks on Australians.

"We especially remind Australia that you, Downer and Howard, are killing Australia, leading it into darkness and misfortune and mujaheddin terror," he says. "Know that as long as you (all) continue to colonise the land of Iraq and Afghanistan and intimidate Muslims then you too will feel our intimidation and terror."

Mr Howard, who is attending a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in South Korea, described the threat as "opportunistic" and rejected any link between the US-led war in Iraq and a greater Australian exposure to terror.

"Just because he said that doesn't prove it's the real motivation," Mr Howard said.

Mr Downer, in Adelaide for talks with US Defence Minister Donald Rumsfeld, also dismissed the warning. "We have to make it perfectly clear that whatever these people do, whatever threats they make, we have got the strength and courage to stand up to that," he said.

The video was part of a haul retrieved last week from Top's central Java hideout and a destroyed house near the east Java city of Malang, where Azahari met his end.

The man believed to have rented that house, Mochammad Cholily, and two compatriots were taken to Bali on Wednesday to be interrogated over their role in the October 1 bombings and their connections to JI.

Yesterday, Azahari's younger brother, who was in Jakarta to identify his brother's body, apologised to the victims of terrorism.

"My family and the family of Azahari's wife apologise to the people killed or injured in Bali or in front of the Australian embassy. They were innocent," he said.

In the recording Top, speaking in Indonesian with a distinctive Malaysian accent, asserted that anyone who supported George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair could be targeted by his terrorist organisation.

Besides the October 1 attacks Top and Azahari are believed to have been responsible for the October 2002 blasts in Bali that killed 202, people including 88 Australians, and subsequent attacks on the Marriott hotel and Australian embassy in Jakarta.

"The infidel rulers, the apostate rulers, those who oppress Muslims and victimise ulamas, the mujaheddin, they are our enemies who have become the targets of our attacks," Top says. "Bush, Downer and Howard, your days are not safe."

The three terrorists in the video speak alternately in Indonesian, Javanese and Arabic, and appear calm. One, identified as Nyoman Cafe bomber Salik Firdaus, urges his wife and children to remember that "when you are watching this, I will already be in heaven. If I have done anything wrong, please forgive me, and if I have any debts, please settle them".

A second, the attacker at Raja's Cafe in Kuta Square, identified as a man named Misno, quotes the sayings of the prophet Mohammed to assert that "martyrs will be carried to heaven".

The third bomber, who struck at Menega Cafe on Jimbaran Bay, remains unidentified.

Also on the video are farewell messages from three hooded men thought to have been the suicide bombers who killed 20 people, including four Australians, in Bali on October 1.

Top is a Malaysian accused of being one of Jemaah Islamiah's most senior operatives, responsible for both Bali bombings and a series of other bloody attacks.

"We repeat that our enemies are America, Australia, England, Italy," he said, pointing his finger in the air.

"And we also convey that our enemies are helpers and assistants of Bush, Blair and infidel rulers - the apostate rulers - who control Muslim people and hunt clerics and mujaheddin (Islamic warriors).

"They are our enemies who have become the targets of our attacks.

"And we specifically remind Australia that you - Downer, John Howard - have led Australia into darkness, into disaster and terrorism by mujaheddin."

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