'Terror leader' on the run

2008-02-28 14:03

Singapore - A massive manhunt was underway on Thursday for a suspected terrorist who escaped from detention, where he was being held for allegedly planning to crash a hijacked plane into Singapore's Changi Airport, authorities said.

Mas Selamat Kastari, 47, fled on Thursday from the Internal Security Department's detention centre, triggering the search by thousands of police and Gurkhas.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said that Mas Selamat was the leader of the Singapore branch of Jemaah Islamiyah, the top South-East Asian Islamic terrorism network with links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation.

Mas Selamat "walks with a limp and is presently at large", the ministry's statement said. "Extensive police resources have been deployed to track him down."

Officers with flashlights went from house-to-house throughout the night and stopped vehicles at roadblocks.

The alert also went out to all border checkpoints, the police coast guard and taxi companies, which broadcast a message telling others to watch for the suspect.

The ministry did not say how Mas Selamat managed to escape.

The Indonesian-born Mas Selamat was said by the ministry to have been involved in plans seven years ago in the city-state to attack the US embassy, the American Club and Singapore government buildings.

Singapore has been a staunch US ally and supports the presence of the US-led coalition in Iraq.

Mas Selamat was arrested twice in Indonesia before being handed over in February 2006 to Singapore. He has been held under the Internal Security Act, which allows indefinite detention without trial.

Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for a spate of terrorist attacks in South-East Asia that have killed more than 250 people since 2002. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA