[Mb-civic] CBC News - ESCAPE OF TOP AL-QAEDA SUSPECT FROM U.S. PRISON ANGERS INDONESIA

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ESCAPE OF TOP AL-QAEDA SUSPECT FROM U.S. PRISON ANGERS INDONESIA
WebPosted Wed Nov  2 12:23:30 2005

---Indonesian anti-terrorism officials slammed Washington on Wednesday
for not telling them of the breakout of a suspected al-Qaeda leader,
considered one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants in South Asia.

U.S. officials have confirmed that Omar al-Farouq was one of four
suspected Arab militants who escaped in July from the detention facility
at Bagram, the main U.S. base in Afghanistan.

Although the break out was reported at the time, the U.S. military only
confirmed Tuesday that al-Farouq was one of the escapees.

Al-Farouq had been captured by Indonesian authorities in 2002 in a town
south of Jakarta and turned over to the United States.

Maj. Gen. Ansyaad Mbai, an Indonesian anti-terrorism official, criticized
the U.S. government for failing to inform him that al-Farouq had escaped.

"We know nothing about the escape of Omar al-Farouq," he said. "He is a
dangerous terrorist for us, his escape will increase the threat of
terrorism in Indonesia."

The four men made a video of themselves after they escaped from Bagram.
It was broadcast on the Arab network Al-Arabiya.

On the video, which is believed to have been shot in Afghanistan, the
four men said they escaped on a Sunday when many of the Americans on
the base were off duty. One of the four said he picked the locks of
their cell.

A U.S. military statement issued in August about the breakout said an
inquiry had found that "the guards and supervisors did not follow
standard operating procedures" on the night it occurred.

"These failures led to the escape of the four detainees on 10 July," it
said, adding that "action has either been taken or is in the process of
being taken" to fix the problems.

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