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| Down Under |
| Indonesia linked with Australian terror suspects |
| 2006-10-30 |
| TWO of the three Australians linked to al-Qaeda and detained in Yemen on terrorism charges are brothers whose father is Indonesian. All three Australians arrested a fortnight ago for attempted arms smuggling are from New South Wales. The brothers were born here and their mother is Australian. The third Australian was born in Poland and became an Australian citizen during the 1980s. The three were arrested with five other men, including a German, a Dane, a Briton and a Somali. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer confirmed the arrests yesterday, saying he welcomed the Yemeni authorities' determination to fight terrorism. Mr Downer said the men were being held in the Yemeni capital Sanaa and Australian authorities had yet to interview them. His department had been in contact with relatives in Australia and Yemen. "These are very serious charges and the Government, of course, would be deeply concerned if it turns out that they are true," he said. "We do not have any confirmation of the official charges at this stage, but we understand that the men were detained on terrorist charges, including attempting to smuggle arms to Somalia. This is a country where there have been a number of terrorist attacks over the years - most prominently the attack on the USS Cole - but also there have been attacks that Australians have been caught up in over the years." Yemen's state run news agency quoted government officials yesterday as saying that preliminary investigations indicated the group had links to al-Qaeda. One of the charges allegedly relates to trying to smuggle arms from Yemen to Somalia, where Islamists have taken control of the government in Mogadishu. Unconfirmed reports say the Australian trio converted to Islam this year, and had been studying at the Islamist al-Iman University in Sanaa run by Sheik Abdul al-Majid al-Zindani, which has established links with jihadists. Sheik Zindani is been cited by the US Government as having links to al-Qaeda. Mr Downer said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade would provide normal consular assistance to the three Australians. |
| Posted by:tipper |