ASIA: "He's a known killer. Hambali was one of the world's most lethal terrorists. He is no longer a problem," President George Bush told troops at this air station near San Diego.
Hambali, a Muslim preacher also known by the name Riduan Isamuddin, was captured earlier this week in Southeast Asia, in an operation carried out by the United States and a regional government, which US officials would not name.
A senior administration official said Hambali was being held and interrogated in US custody at an undisclosed location.
US officials suspect Hambali (39) of involvement in the bombing of a US-run luxury hotel in Jakarta last week, the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people, and a series of church bombings in the Philippines.
He has also been linked to a plot to blow up US and other Western embassies and targets in Singapore in December.
"This is the highest-ranking al-Qaeda figure captured and in US custody since Khalid Shaikh Mohammed," another US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11th, 2001, attacks on the US that killed about 3,000 people, was captured in Pakistan in March and is in US custody.
Hambali was the operational chief of militant group Jemaah Islamiah and al-Qaeda's chief operative in Southeast Asia, the US official said. "The hope is he will be able to shed light on current and future terrorist operations in Southeast Asia and perhaps even the United States," the official said.
Hambali "facilitated" a January 2000 meeting in Malaysia attended by two men who later took part in the September 11th attacks, US officials said.
President Bush was informed of the capture in a video conference call while on vacation at his Texas ranch. "Al-Qaeda's still active and they are still recruiting and they're still a threat. Its leaders and foot soldiers continue to plot against the American people," Mr Bush said.
The senior administration official said Hambali earlier this year received a "large sum of money for a major attack". The money was provided by an al-Qaeda leader in Pakistan, the official said, but would not reveal whether that attack was thwarted or was still in the planning stages.
Hambali was in Afghanistan in the mid- to late-1980s and believed to have met al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed at that time and has detailed knowledge of past and current western targets, the other US official said.