Bali bombing suspect extradited for trial

A key suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings in which 202 people died was escorted home to Indonesia under tight security to stand trial yesterday, six months after he was captured in the same north-western Pakistani town where Osama bin Laden was killed.

Umar Patek, an Indonesian militant linked to al-Qa'ida, had a $1m bounty on his head when authorities caught up with him on 25 January in Abbottabad – just a few miles from where US commandos killed Bin Laden four months later.

Ansyaad Mbai, Indonesia's anti-terrorism chief, said it was no coincidence that the two men were in the same town. "It's further evidence of the link between the South-east Asian terror network and al-Qa'ida," he said.

The 41-year-old militant was driven to the local Pakistani air force base late on Wednesday, put on a waiting Indonesian plane and flown to the capital, Jakarta, where he was taken to a police detention centre in the West Java town of Kelapa Dua.