Cleric 'headed Bali bomb terror group'

Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is the head of the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group, and once told its members that shedding the blood of non-Muslims is allowed under Islamic law, a key witness told a court today.

Nasir Abbas, a Malaysian who said he was a former Jemaah Islamiyah operative, also told Bashir’s terrorism trial that the defendant claimed to have met al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.