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Al Qaeda 'Behind Ambon and Other Conflicts'
Thursday, May 9, 2002
(6:55 AM ET) (10:55 GMT)
By Maria Ressa
CNN Correspondent

Jafar Umar Thalib, leader of a group with possible al Qaeda links, is being held in connection with a raid in Maluku.
Image Credit: l'Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Thalib was detained on Saturday in connection with an attack on Christians in Soya village on April 28, which killed 13 people.

SINGAPORE -- CNN
Officials in Southeast Asia have attributed recent violence in Ambon, Indonesia -- where nearly 10,000 people have died in Muslim-Christian conflict since 1999 -- to al Qaeda operatives.

Intelligence officials in Southeast Asia say the clashes between Christians and Muslims on the former 'Spice Islands' are just one of several separatist conflicts fueled by the terror network blamed for the September 11 attacks in the Unites States.

Among the others are the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the largest Muslim separatist group in the Philippines, the KMM, a separatist group in Malaysia, Jemaah Islamiya in Singapore and Laskar Jundullah and Laskar Jihad in Indonesia.

* Ambon arrests
* Mixed messages
(More: CNN.com News Source)
2002 © Cable News Network LP, LLLP.

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