Indonesia: January 23, 2002

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In Aceh, an army patrol came upon the leader of the Aceh rebels and his body guards and in a gun battle killed seven of the rebels. This included the rebel leader, Tengku Abdullah Syafii, his wife and five bodyguards. The US revealed that the Indonesian government had been warned last July that five al Qaeda members had just entered the country to plan and carry out the bombing of the American embassy. But Indonesia refused to arrest the men and, it is thought, alerted the al Qaeda Arabs so that they could flee Indonesia. The government did not want to stir up the local Moslem radicals any more. Since September 11, 2001, this laid back attitude has changed.