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Singapore, Malaysia Arrest Suspected Al-Qaida Militants
By IOL correspondent Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA, Jan. 6 (IslamOnline) - A major development gripped South East Asia on Saturday with the arrest of 25 suspected members of the Malaysian Militant Group (KMM) with links to Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaida group in Singapore and Malaysia.
Malaysia arrested 13 KMM members, including 3 Indonesians Friday night, triggering widespread protests from opposition and rights groups.
In neighboring Singapore, the authorities announced the arrest of 15 men, including one Malaysian, on terrorism charges. They were arrested between December 9 and 24, 2001, according to newspapers in Singapore.
Both Malaysia and Singapore carried out the arrests under the infamous Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows detention without trial.
The two countries said the groups had links with each other while the Jakarta-based Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) confirmed Saturday that three Indonesians arrested by Malaysian police belonged to their group.
Malaysian and Singaporean police claimed the suspects were planning terror attacks, targeting strategic locations like embassies and military bases and other buildings.
They added the group was also actively raising funds for larger operations in the region. Members of the group, Singapore alleged, were raising money for terrorist groups and carrying out surveillance of places targeted for bomb attacks.
Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, Tony Tan, who is also Defense Minister, said some of the 15 suspects were national servicemen holding junior posts in the army but none were in critical or sensitive positions.
Malays and other Muslims in Singapore do not hold any major posts in the army, most of them being private citizens, medics or cooks.
Tan said Singapore was vulnerable to terrorism because of its close links with the United States. Singapore has beefed up security at its airport, entry points and key installations after the September 11 attacks in the U.S.
The minister claimed some members of the group were still at large, adding that some of them had received short training spells in Al-Qaeda terrorist camps in Afghanistan
A search of the homes and offices of the suspects supposedly yielded detailed information on bomb construction, photographs and video footage of target surveillance, Al-Qaeda linked material, tampered passports and forged immigration stamps.
Thirteen of them are cell members of a clandestine organisation which called itself Jemaah Islamiah and had links to militant elements in Malaysia and Indonesia, said the ministry.
Singapore’s Foreign Minister, S. Jayakumar, said Singapore authorities would work with neighboring and other foreign countries in their attempts to fight terrorism.
"Whether on this specific situation or the arrest of the 15 or any other episode, I have no doubt our security agencies will exchange information and collaborate with other relevant agencies of neighboring countries and other nations whenever necessary," he said.
The Singapore Minister claimed that Jemaah Islamiah key figures, including several of those presently in custody, have links to militant elements in Malaysia and Indonesia.
They were also attempting to procure materials to make bombs, including large amounts of a chemical, ammonium nitrate - a powder that appears colorless or white, which can be used as an explosive.
Malaysian police announced on Friday the arrest of 13 men, after uncovering a new wing of a group with links to Zacarias Moussaoui, the Frenchman charged for his involvement in the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
The arrests in Malaysia started on the same day as those by Singapore.
Malaysia claimed the men arrested by Malaysian police were trying to raise funds to wage a protracted guerilla war and launch terrorist attacks in the region.
And one of the 13 men arrested, 37-year-old businessman Yazid Sufaat, has emerged as the possible link man between the group's Indonesian leaders and Zacarias Moussaoui, the Frenchman charged in the United States over his involvement in the Sept 11 terrorist attacks.
Another key figure is Abu Jibril, who is now under ISA detention in Malaysia for activities linked to the
KMM.
Police in Kuala Lumpur say they are also trying to ascertain if Yazid Sufaat or any other KMM member had met Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, two men on the aircraft that crashed into the Pentagon in Washington. Both men had been spotted in Malaysia in January last year.
Saturday's announcement comes days after Jane's Defense Weekly reported that Al-Qaeda members in Singapore were believed to have been about to launch an operation, but were stopped by Osama bin Laden for a reason that is not yet clear.
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