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Al-Qaeda `Has Links to Southeast Asia'
Wednesday, September 18, 2002
The Bangkok Post

Indonesia has confirmed the arrest in its territory of Omar al-Faruq, said to be al-Qaeda's senior operative in Southeast Asia. He was reportedly being interrogated by American officials in Afghanistan. He was accused of having coordinating disparate Islamic militant groups in the region to attack US and allied targets.

Intelligence gathered by Southeast Asian security officials has revealed links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network to the region, a top Thai defence official said yesterday.

“We have cooperated with other countries in intelligence sharing. We have some proof of that,” said Royal Thai Armed Forces Supreme Commander Adm Narong Yuthavong. “It is inappropriate to reveal more information.”

Adm Narong is in Malaysia for a three-day biannual intelligence meeting with his Malaysian counterpart Gen Mohamad Zahidi Zainduddin.

Gen Zahidi said one of the top issues of the high-level dialogue between Malaysia and Thailand was to identify ways of beating terrorism.

“We want to get rid of any terrorist activities here,” he said. “Al-Qaeda is not the only sole terrorist group.”
(More: BangkokPost.com News Source)
2002 © The Bangkok Post.

Dan