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| Southeast Asia |
| Malaysia denies Azahari's was being bankrolled by sympathetic locals |
| 2005-11-17 |
| Malaysia has denied claims that a slain terrorist had received funds from Malaysian sympathizers while coordinating bombings in Indonesia that killed more than 200 people, news reports said Thursday. Azahari bin Husin - a Malaysian alleged to have been an explosives expert for the al-Qaeda-linked Southeast Asian terror group Jamaah Islamiyah, was shot by Indonesian police last week as he reached to detonate a suicide belt. The Indonesian police have since launched a massive manhunt to capture his alleged accomplice Noordin Mohamad Top, a Malaysian. A report in the Indonesia's "Media Indonesia" newspaper on Tuesday claimed that Azahari and Noordin received funds from sympathizers in Malaysia after the two fled to Indonesia in 2001, following a Malaysian crackdown against suspected Islamic militants. Malaysia's Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar said his government had no evidence that Azahari and Noordin operated in Indonesia with money from Malaysia, the New Straits Times newspaper reported. "These allegations are baseless," the paper quote Noh as saying. "The people who say this should provide evidence to our police. If they cannot do so, they should keep quiet because such allegations can tarnish Malaysia's image." He said the allegations were also "detrimental to good relations between us and Indonesia." Noh was not immediately available for comment Thursday. The Indonesian news report cited Wawan H. Purwanto, whom it claimed was an Indonesian "intelligence observer," as saying that a Malaysian named "Suf" had used banks to transfer funds to Azahari and Noordin from Malaysian supporters. Suf later used couriers to sent the funds, the report said, citing Purwanto. It did not give any background on Purwanto, or say how much money was allegedly channeled to the Azahari and Noordin. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Malaysia has nothing to do with terrorist! They have none on their soil and their Muslim population has nothing to do with it. They all come from Thailand ;) |
| Posted by: Jomoque Ebbeart6983 2005-11-17 10:39 |