As al-Qaida links in Malaysia probed, authorities focus on home grown radical group

By JASBANT SINGH
Associated Press Writer

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – As Malaysia intensifies its probe into links between Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and its own Islamic militants, attention is focusing on a previously unknown group accused of plotting two attacks to kill U.S. sailors.

Members of the tiny Malaysian Mujahadin Group, or KMM, trained in Afghanistan, followed the calls of bin Laden to target American servicemen and hoped to establish an Islamic state in Southeast Asia, authorities say.

Malaysian and U.S. officials say it seems unlikely a full-fledged al-Qaida cell was operating here, though that has not been ruled out. But Malaysia appears to have been an unwitting way-station for terrorists, including at least one Sept. 11 suicide hijacker.

Khalid al-Mihdhar passed through Kuala Lumpur's ultramodern airport like thousands of Middle Eastern visitors who flock to Malaysia every year for a taste of exotic Southeast Asia in a liberal-yet-Muslim atmosphere.

But from the moment the future suicide hijacker stepped off the plane in January 2000, he and several others were under surveillance by Malaysia's Special Branch police.

At the time of the visit, al-Mihdhar was nobody to the intelligence community. Special Branch was focused on the doings of a local extremist who has since gone abroad and is on a Malaysian watch list, officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The local extremist's name has not been divulged.

What was discussed is also a mystery. Information from the surveillance was eventually shared with U.S. authorities, and the meeting took on new significance when one of the participants, an unidentified al-Qaida operative from the Middle East, became wanted in connection with the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole.

The CIA placed al-Mihdhar and one of his associates, Nawaf Alhazmi, on a terrorist watch list in August, but immigration officials discovered the two soon-to-be-hijackers were already in the United States, U.S. officials have said.

The two weren't located before they boarded an American Airlines jetliner that crashed into the Pentagon.

Recently, authorities in Malaysia have begun to crack down on the KMM, arresting 10 of its members in August.

Though the group has not been linked to the January 2000 meeting with al-Mihdhar, the government alleges that members received training in Afghanistan and followed bin Laden's call for holy war.

"The KMM passed edicts that American soldiers must be killed because they had oppressed Islamic countries," an official told AP.

One attack, planned in a chic shopping district in downtown Kuala Lumpur, was apparently called off in 1999 because the would-be assassins grew nervous by security in the area, officials said. Then last year, militants trailed a carload of sailors on an expressway but aborted the attack, apparently believing the servicemen were armed.

The KMM's ultimate goal, according to arrest documents reviewed by AP, was to establish a single Islamic state across Malaysia, Indonesia and the Muslim southern Philippines, an area that is home to 250 million people.

Though Malaysia boasts an export-driven modern economy and a live-and-let-live brand of Islam, fundamentalists have gained strength in recent years, preaching against corruption and injustice. The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party – which calls for the imposition of Islamic law – won control of two of 13 state governments.

One of those arrested in the KMM crackdown, Nik Adli Nik Aziz, is the son of the spiritual leader of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party. Some critics have questioned whether the KMM exists and have accused the government of trying to discredit the opposition.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has ruled for 20 years, at times by locking up his opponents. But his longevity owes more to his success at making Malaysia one of the wealthiest countries in Asia.

The alleged KMM members are being held under security laws that do not require trials, and no evidence has been presented in court.

But a copy of Nik Adli's arrest order, which was shown to the AP, gives a detailed account of what authorities know about the KMM. According to the order, the group is believed to have 68 members, 45 of whom trained in Afghanistan in the 1980s or 1990s.

The government alleges Nik Adli received military training in Afghanistan from 1990 to 1996, before taking charge of the KMM. In 1999, he allegedly purchased weapons in southern Thailand and later received 22 pounds of explosives.

KMM leaders allegedly hosted a 1998 meeting with like-minded groups from Indonesia, where they vowed to establish a single Islamic state comprising most of Southeast Asia's Muslims.

Also in 1999, Nik Adli allegedly visited the headquarters of a Philippine separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and learned bomb-making skills. Later, he sent 16 supporters to fight against Christians on the Indonesian island of Ambon.

Police chief Norian Mai has said that records show several suspects sought by the United States had traveled to Malaysia using tourist visas. At the time, he said, they had not been on any wanted lists. Norian did not name the suspects or say how many there were.

U.S. and Malaysian law enforcement authorities have a history of cooperating against terrorism and both say relations are good.

"Whenever they send us any intelligence, we don't look at it lightly," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told The Associated Press. "We will investigate, we will follow up."

APNP-12-06-01 1343CST