| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Noordins associates grilled |
| 2009-07-22 |
| [Straits Times] MALAYSIAN authorities revealed on Tuesday that they are questioning supporters of Noordin Mohammad Top, a wanted terrorist believed to be the mastermind of last week's Jakarta bombings. Three of his associates detained in Malaysia before the July 17 attacks are being interviewed and Malaysian intelligence officials are in Jakarta helping in the probe, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters on Tuesday. He said that Malaysian-born Noordin was not in the country, but police were watching his supporters. 'We are monitoring them. In fact, we detained three of them just before the bombing in Jakarta. They are helping us in the investigation,' he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. Datuk Seri Hishammuddin said the three detained men were Malaysians suspected of belonging to the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) regional terror group. Asked if their detentions were linked to the Jakarta bombings, he responded: 'I'm not in the position to tell you that they are directly related to the bombings, but they are terrorists.' Earlier this month, police said they detained three alleged JI members in Johor on June 25. They are being held under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for detention without trial. The three were identified as Sulaiman Bukhari, Latif Omar and Samsudin, according to the Abolish ISA Movement, a non-governmental organisation. Reports said they were aged between 43 and 53, and were ordinary JI members trying to revive the group's operations in Malaysia. They were said to have met Mas Selamat Kastari, the JI leader who escaped from detention in Singapore last year and was recaptured in Johor on April 1. Mas Selamat is also being detained under the ISA in Malaysia. Mr Hishammuddin said on Tuesday that last Friday's attacks on the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in Jakarta were more likely to be the work of an international terror network. |
| Posted by:Fred |