Group plotted to attack U.S. sailors: Mahathir
Muhammad
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
By Naqqash
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammad said Thursday
that a local group with ties to the Taliban conspired to
attack American sailors in this Southeast Asian country but the plans fell
through.
In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., Mahathir
said members of the group studied in Pakistan and traveled
to Afghanistan, where they
became involved with the ruling Taliban militia and
what the Malaysian leader called "the Osama bin Laden
group."
"They were indoctrinated there, and they came home planning to overthrow
the government by force of arms," Mahathir said.
"Their numbers are not big."
Mahathir did not identify the group. But over the
past three months, Malaysian authorities have detained at least 16 men accused
of being part of a local militant group allegedly planning to turn this mostly
Muslim country into a hardline Islamic state.
"The (group) that was involved with Osama bin Laden, they did plan to
attack some American sailors who were here after their ship docked in the
harbor," Mahathir said. "The attack didn't
come off, but we warned the Americans about that."
Mahathir did not say when the attack was supposed to
have taken place or how far the planning had gone, or whether those arrested
were suspected of involvement. Such a plan had never before been publicly
disclosed.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman,
speaking on condition of anonymity, said that he could not comment on security
issues.
The Malaysian government has said it opposes terrorism and has condemned the
Sept. 11 terror attacks, which the United
States has blamed on
bin Laden and his al-Qaida network, based in Afghanistan.
But Mahathir has repeatedly urged a halt to the
bombing of Afghanistan, which he
says has mostly killed innocent civilians. Sentiment against the bombings has
been building in Malaysia.
"The feeling about the American bombing is strong and getting
stronger," Mahathir said. "We do not
believe that attacking Afghanistan is going to
help."
Separately, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said that Malaysia had no plans
to initiate any efforts to have the United
States charged
before an international court over civilian deaths in Afghanistan.
Syed Hamid was
responding to comments by his colleague Rais Yatim, a minister
in the Prime Minister's Department, who said Tuesday that countries that have
criticized the air strikes in Afghanistan should
petition the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands.
