Indonesian wife doubts al-Qaeda husband is dead

Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa
Published: Tuesday September 26, 2006

Jakarta (dap) - The Indonesian wife of a senior al-Qaeda figure killed in Iraq by British troops doubted Tuesday that her husband is dead, according to local reports. Mira Augustine, who last saw Omar al-Faroup prior to his arrest in West Java by Indonesian and US intelligence officials in 2002, said she had not been informed by authorities, according to Detik.com online news portal.

"I don't believe it because the news is still not confirmed and is unclear," she was quoted as saying from her home in Bogor, West Java province. "I hope it is not true."

She said that if her husband, who escaped from US military custody in Afghanistan in 2005 and was considered a senior al-Qaeda operative, is dead, she wanted his body returned to Indonesia for burial.

Al-Farouq, a native Iraqi, was sent by al-Qaeda to South-East Asia to plan attacks on US embassies and other Western targets in the region.

He was captured by Indonesia's State Intelligence Agency, which under a rendition agreement handed him over to US Central Intelligence Agency officials who immediately flew him out of the country, a senior Indonesian counter-terrorism official told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The terrorist suspect was one of a group of inmates at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan who inexplicably escaped from detention there, and worked his way back to Iraq.

A spokesman said some 250 soldiers stormed a house in which al-Farouq was staying in the port of Basra late Sunday.

Farouq - who has been linked to a series of kidnappings and murders and was believed to be a top lieutenant of Osama bin Laden - was shot when he resisted arrest, according to the British Foreign Ministry.

© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa