Indonesia gives Australian police access to terrorist plans

Indonesia has given Australian police access to terrorist plans seized from an al-Qaida-linked Islamic militant group blamed for the deadly Bali bombings, Australian Federal Police chief Commissioner Mick Keelty said Monday.

"We now ... have a better understanding of Jemaah Islamiyah than what we ever had," Keelty told a counterterrorism conference in Sydney. "We now have ... access to some of their plans (and) ... the future plans that they had in place," he added.

Keelty said the plans were highly detailed, featuring sophisticated intelligence and surveillance of targets.

"There is a considerable amount of planning (that) goes into operations that are taking place and we've got to make sure we are equal to those sort of plans by the terrorists," he said.

Keelty did not disclose any of the group's potential targets.

Bombs blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah ripped through two nightclubs on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in October 2002, killing 202 people including 88 Australians. The group has been blamed for three other major bombings targeting Westerners in Indonesia since then.

Keelty's comments came after a video was aired last week in which a masked man believed to be key Jemaah Islamiyah leader Noordin Mohamad Top threatened attacks against Australia, the United States, Britain and Italy.

The video was among several seized recently from Top's hastily abandoned safehouse in Indonesia's Central Java province. It was not clear if the plans Keelty referred to were recovered at the same time.

"As long as you keep your troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and intimidate Muslim people, you will feel our intimidation and our terror," the man believed to be Noordin said in the video.

Earlier this month, elite counterterror police killed Noordin's right-hand man, fellow Malaysian Azahari bin Husin.

Azahari was believed to be Jemaah Islamiyah's top bomb-making expert and the discovery of more than 30 explosives in his hide-out raised concerns that the group may have been planning more terror strikes. I.L.