Militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir lashed out at the US just hours after his release from jail today, as he headed to his home town to resume teaching at an Islamic school notorious for producing several deadly militants.

A trickle of aid began reaching survivors of the Indonesian earthquake that killed more than 5,400 over the weekend, but desperate villagers said today the meagre deliveries were not enough.

The first UN flight arrived today in Indonesia’s earthquake zone carrying water, tents, stoves and cooking sets, as the death toll from the disaster climbed to nearly 5,000.

Police took to the air over the weekend to press the search for the suspected masterminds of the Bali terror bombings, using a helicopter to scatter pictures of the fugitives on another island where at least one of them was thought to be hiding.

The investigation into the Bali terrorist attacks gathered pace today after police said that one of the alleged masterminds narrowly escaped capture in a raid and that they were closer to identifying the suicide bombers.

Indonesian police interrogated 100 detained terror suspects across the nation today, stepping up efforts to identify three suspected suicide bombers who attacked crowded restaurants on the resort island of Bali.

Investigators are examining the wreckage of an Indonesian passenger plane that crashed in stormy weather, killing at least 32 people in the county’s worst air accident in six years.

An airliner skidded off the runway as it landed in an Indonesian tourist town today, killing at least six people and injuring 24.

A bomb attack near the Australian Embassy in Indonesia today in which at least seven people were killed may have been the work of a British-trained engineer who has eluded capture for nearly three years, Malaysian security officials said.

INDONESIAN police have arrested 13 more people suspected of involvement in a wave of bombings across the country, a police spokesman said.

ABOUT 3,000 Muslim militants rallied yesterday in the city of Solo to support detained Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who allegedly heads the al-Qaida-linked group accused in the deadly bombing at Jakarta’s Marriott Hotel.

A controversial Muslim cleric went on trial today denying he ordered dozens of deadly Christmas Eve bomb attacks against Indonesian churches.

Eight suspects in the Bali bombings were flown to the central Indonesian town of Solo to re-enact meetings at which they allegedly planned the deadly blasts.

Indonesian police say they have arrested the alleged mastermind of the McDonald's bombing.

Police in Indonesia today released photos and sketches of six more suspects in last month’s bombings in Bali.

Police in Indonesia today said it could be days before they can question an ailing Muslim cleric over a string of deadly church bombings and his alleged links to a regional terrorist network.

THE ailing spiritual leader of an extremist Islamic organisation accused of involvement in the Bali nightclub bombings said yesterday he would submit to questioning but resist efforts to detain him.

Australia today vowed to fight terrorism on its Southeast Asian doorstep through diplomacy, not force.

INVESTIGATORS probing last week’s Bali nightclub bombing said yesterday they are making progress though authorities still have to interrogate the ailing spiritual leader of a militant group suspected in the attack which left up to 30 Britons dead.

A day after the adoption of a tough new anti-terrorism decree, Indonesian police today arrested the alleged leader of a militant group suspected in last week’s Bali nightclub bombing.

A RADICAL Islamic cleric suspected of a series of church bombings in Indonesia was in hospital yesterday and will not risk arrest by submitting to police for questioning.

The leader of a Southeast Asian Muslim group suspected of involvement in the devastating Bali bombing will meet Indonesian police later this week, his brother said today.

Bali

Indonesia’s defence minister today blamed al-Qaida and its extremist allies for the massive bomb attack that killed more than 180 people at a nightclub on the resort island of Bali.