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| Southeast Asia | |||
| Cambodia Boots Saudi Religious School | |||
| 2003-05-28 | |||
| Related to previous story, more details: Authorities in Cambodia said Wednesday that they closed a Saudi-funded religious school and arrested three foreigners with links to the terror group suspected in deadly bombings on the resort island of Bali. The arrests, prompted by a tip from U.S. officials, came about two weeks before Secretary of State Colin Powell is to attend a meeting of Asian-Pacific Cabinet ministers in Cambodia. There's your target. Police arrested a man from Egypt and two others from Thailand on terrorism charges Sunday. It was a rare sign of militancy among Cambodia's small Muslim minority. Officials said the men have links to Jemaah Islamiyah. "This operation has foiled any attempts of terrorist activity" in Cambodia, said Om Yentieng, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen. Investigators established that the suspects had links "with terrorism activities overseas," he said, without giving details.
As we say, "The usual suspects". The school was run by a local Muslim group, Om Al Qura, that allegedly included the three terrorism suspects as members. The arrested men were identified as Abdul Azi Haji Thiming and Muhammad Jalaludin Mading of Thailand, and Esam Mohammed Khidr Ali of Egypt. Police Gen. Sok Phal said the arrests were carried out "with cooperation and a tip from the United States."
Yup, a nice juicy target for the turban set. Most Cambodian Muslims belong to the Cham ethnic minority, who make up less than 5 percent of the country's 12.5 million people in the mostly Buddhist country. Cambodia's government had said in the past that local Muslims have no active links to militant groups. Sure they don't. It's never your muslims, it's somebody else's.
I think 20 years in a Cambodian prison is a life sentence. The men were being held pending pretrial investigations that could take six months, Bunna said. He refused to disclose details about their arrests and alleged activities. Being picked up in a European country looks better and better all the time, doesn't it? Sok Phal said authorities began watching the school about a year ago, but recently received indications of an operation so that "prevention was required." "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of C4." He said police have been tracking money transfers between Saudi Arabia and the school. Tap, tap, nope. Sidney Jones, a Jakarta-based expert on Islam, said it would not be surprising if Jemaah Islamiyah was operating in Cambodia. "There's been a lot of speculation for some time that Cambodia was one of the possible places of refuge for JI members from Indonesia and Malaysia," she said. But Jones, Indonesia project director of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said it was unlikely there were direct links between the school and terrorists. Islamic school + Saudi money = terrorists | |||
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 We need to get Iraq producing oil for export so we can put the real heat on Saudis to stop financing terrorists. If they do not, then their oil production needs to come to a temporary halt while the furniture is rearranged. Without a steady flow of petro-cash, the terrorists will run out of money in the not too distant future. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-05-28 18:51:12 |