Vocabulary 2

19. Read the following article and guess the meaning of the words given in bold type.

Inside the Hunt for Hambali

Authorities in Thailand almost missed their man. They had been warned that the suspected terrorist known as Hambali was heading their way when he was thought to be in southern China, and were watching for him along the Burmese border. Even so, the Indonesian-born Qaeda leader slipped into the country unnoticed. Plastic surgery and a fresh shave had made him difficult to recognize.

Fortunately, Hambali, considered one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists and the mastermind behind last year’s Bali bombings, had inadvertently left a trail his pursuers couldn’t miss.

His arrest could lead to many of the lingering questions about numerous attacks and could help unravel some plots still in the works. NEWSWEEK learned that at least one major Qaeda detainee in US custody has alleged that Hambali was assigned to recruit teams of hijackers to launch follow-up attacks on US targets after 9/11. A US official says those allegations have been corroborated by other intelligence sources and are regarded as credible by senior officials. “He is a ruthless terrorist intent on killing as many Americans as possible. And in terms of Southeast Asia, he was the Qaeda chieftain.”

It was in Thailand that Hambali finally slipped up. Thai officials – with the help of the CIA – determined his whereabouts after tracing a telephone call he made to a suspected Indonesian terrorist who was already under surveillance.

Southeast Asia’s most-wanted man was born Encep Nurjaman, one of twelve children of a school teacher in a village some 50 miles southeast of Jakarta. (He’s often identified in press accounts by another alias, Riduan Isamuddin.) He was 20 when he migrated to Malaysia in search of work. Once there he met and became a disciple of the radical Islamic cleric Abdullah Sungkar, who had fled to the neighboring Muslim country to escape the repressive Suharto regime.

His promotion to the top ranks of terrorists was secured by time spent in Afghanistan in the late 1980s. He spent several years training as a jihadi fighter, picking up deadly experience and cultivating connections. That’s when he evidently met bin Laden and other senior members of the group that would become Al Qaeda. One of his closest associates was Khalid Sheikh.

Some analysts are hopeful that Hambali may be difficult to replace. Still, authorities can’t afford to pat themselves on the back for long. “He’s been working for quite some time,” says the Thai police source. “We don’t know if he’s got things set up for an attack or not.” And the terrorist cells he set up remain active. Which means Hambali may not have played his last hand.

(From ‘Newsweek’, abridged)

Remember the following words.

To head somewhere, a mastermind (to mastermind smth), inadvertently, to leave a trail, a detainee, ruthless, to be intent on doing smth, a chieftain, smb’s whereabouts, to be (to keep smb) under surveillance, an alias, a disciple, a (close) associate, to pat smb on the back