JI leader escapes from toilet

A "security lapse" led to the escape of an Islamic militant leader accused of planning an attack on Singapore's airport, a minister said yesterday, as regional experts predicted his next stop could be Indonesia.

Mas Selamat bin Kastari, the alleged leader of Al Qaeda-linked Islamic militant network Jemaah Islamiah's (JI) Singapore cell, escaped on Wednesday from the toilet of a detention center.

The JI has been blamed for several deadly bombing attacks in Southeast Asia, including the 2002 bombings that killed more than 200 people on Indonesia's resort island of Bali.