The suspected leader of a radical Islamist group linked to the 2002 Bali bombings has been arrested 15 months after he escaped from a high security prison in Singapore, the government said on Friday.
Mas Selamat Kastari was the alleged mastermind of a plot to hijack a plane and crash it into Singapore’s Changi Airport.
Singapore authorities have also accused him of planning several truck bomb attacks across the island state.

An audio recording attributed to al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden denounces Somalia’s new president, and urges Somalis to topple him.
The recording appeared Thursday on Web sites used by al-Qaida-linked militant groups.
The speaker says Somalis should fight and dethrone President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who the recording claims is “paid by the enemies” of al-Qaida’s cause.
The 11.5-minute message was entitled “Fight On, Champions of Somalia” and included a picture of bin Laden with the audio.

Gunmen have attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team on its way to play in the Pakistani city of Lahore. At least five policemen escorting the team bus were killed, along with a driver….

Eight Pakistanis, mostly policemen, were killed when commando-style gunmen attacked the convoy with rocket-propelled grenades and AK47 machine guns.
The poor security for the visitors and the ease with which the terrorists were able to target the team, has further isolated both Pakistan as a global hub of terrorism and a venue for international cricket.
President Asif Zardari was forced to apologise to his Sri Lankan counterpart yesterday for the lack of protection, while the International Cricket Council officials said it was unlikely that international cricket matches could be played in Pakistan …

Pakistan offered a reward of $125,000 this morning for information about the 12 masked gunmen who ambushed Sri Lanka’s cricket team, as conspiracy theories multiplied about who was behind the Mumbai-style attack.
While police continued to scour the eastern city of Lahore for the gunmen, all of whom escaped, the government of the eastern province of Punjab appealed for help from the public in most national newspapers.
Officers announced today that they had arrested “some suspects” behind the attack, but the gunmen were still at large.
“The dignity of the country has been …

A Jordanian cleric described by the government as a “significant international terrorist” can be deported despite fears he may be tortured, the country’s highest court decided on Wednesday.
Abu Qatada, linked by Britain to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network, is one of a group of Arab men the government has been trying to deport on national security grounds, while acknowledging it does not have enough evidence to put them on trial.

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has apparently released a new audio message calling for a jihad, or holy war, against Israel for its Gaza campaign.
The message is “an invitation” from bin Laden to take part in “jihad to stop the aggression against Gaza.”
The audio message was posted on a radical Islamist Web site known for posting statements from bin Laden.
CNN could not independently confirm the authenticity of the message, but the speaker’s voice was similar to recordings that bin Laden has made in the past.

Two top al Qaeda officials are believed dead following a New Year’s Day drone attack in northern Pakistan, ABC News has confirmed. U.S. officials said Fahid Mohammed Ali Msalam and Sheikh Ahmed Salem Swedan, both on the FBI’s most wanted terrorists list, were killed in the CIA strike.

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) — The only surviving suspect in last month’s attacks in Mumbai has written a letter to the Pakistan High Commission, or embassy, seeking legal aid, CNN’s sister network in India reported Saturday, quoting a Mumbai police official.
Investigators said that Mohammad Ajmal Kasab is from Faridkot village in the Okara district of Pakistan’s Punjab province and that the other nine attackers also are from Pakistan. Pakistani officials have denied that assertion, blaming instead “stateless actors.”

NEW DELHI (AFP) — India said Thursday that South Asia stood “in the eye of the storm of terror” as the surviving attacker from the bloody Mumbai siege was remanded in custody accused of making war on the country.
In a statement to parliament here, Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram announced wide-reaching reforms to security laws and national infrastructure aimed at preventing future attacks by militants.
They include measures to fix intelligence lapses and “logistical weakness” that emerged during the 60-hour siege in which 172 people died, including nine gunmen.