http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20050106-0716-tsunami-radicalislam.html
Radical Indonesian Islamic group moving into tsunami-devastated Aceh Save a link to this article and return to it at www.savethis.comSave a link to this article and return to it at www.savethis.com Email a link to this articleEmail a link to this article Printer-friendly version of this articlePrinter-friendly version of this article View a list of the most popular articles on our siteView a list of the most popular articles on our site By Chris Brummitt ASSOCIATED PRESS 7:16 a.m. January 6, 2005 BANDA ACEH, Indonesia – A radical Islamic group once headed by the alleged leader of a Southeast Asian terrorist group has set up a relief operation in tsunami-stricken Aceh province. The Laskar Mujahidin group, which campaigns for an Islamic state in Indonesia and is fiercely anti-American, established a camp close to hundreds of other local and international volunteers at the military airport in Banda Aceh, beneath a sign in English that reads "Islamic Law Enforcement." Advertisement About 50 Laskar Mujahidin members are collecting corpses still buried beneath debris in the provincial capital, distributing food and spreading Islamic teachings among refugees, one of its members said Thursday. They would not interfere with foreign troops – as long as the foreigners kept strictly to humanitarian operations, Jundi said. "We are here to help our Muslim brothers," said Jundi, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name. "As long as they (foreign troops) are here to help, we will have no problem with them. There is no need for any friction." Separately, the South Korean government warned on Thursday that tsunami relief workers in Indonesia could become a target for terror attacks – the first such warning since thousands of agencies and organizations began rushing into the area to help it recover after the Dec. 26 disaster. "We have acquired intelligence that our relief groups in Indonesia and some other areas are becoming a possible target of terror attacks," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lee Kyu-hyung said in a statement. South Korea had sent a "strong request to the related countries" to take security measures for South Korean aid workers, according to the statement, which did not elaborate. A foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity in Seoul, said no specific threat had been received but the warning was issued as a precaution because of the Christian-leaning of some relief organizations. Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, is predominantly moderate but hosts dozens of radical Islamic groups. It formed the main base for Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group that operated across Southeast Asia and is blamed in a string of bombings in recent years that have killed hundreds of people. The airport, on the outskirts of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, is full of international troops and aid workers helping the province recover from the earthquake and tsunami ravaged the coast, killing around 100,000 in Indonesia. U.S. Navy and Marine helicopter crews have flown scores of aid delivery into remote villages in Sumatra, sometimes bringing infirm tsunami survivors back to the airport. A spokesman in Thailand for the U.S. military task force that is taking part in the relief effort declined to comment on the Laskar Mujahidin's relief effort. Sidney Jones, a Jemaah Islamiyah expert with the International Crisis Group, however, said Laskar Mujahidin was "raising concerns that the presence of U.S. and Australian troops in Aceh to help the humanitarian aid effort masks a hidden agenda" of converting people to Christianity. "They appear to see their role not only as helping victims, but as guarding against 'kafir' – infidel – influence," Jones said at a regional forum in Singapore. Laskar Mujahidin forms the security arm of a larger much group, the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia. Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia was once headed by Abu Bakar Bashir, who is currently on trial as the alleged leader of Jemaah Islamiyah. Bashir faces charges related to the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people and the 2003 attack on the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta that killed 12. The group is also blamed for last year's bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, though Bashir has not been charged in that case. The group, from Indonesia's main island of Java, is unlikely to attract much support among native Acehnese, who are a fiercely independent people. Three years ago, another radical Islamic group, Laskar Jihad, tried to open branches in the province but locals drove it out. The Muslim Justice and Welfare party, a small but growing Islamist party that has campaigned for Islamic law in secular Indonesia, has also pledged to send 800 volunteers to Aceh. Party leaders claim it was among the first organizations to distribute food, water, medicine and hundreds of prayer kits to survivors. –– Associated Press Writer Wee Sui Lee in Singapore and Sang-hun Choe in Seoul contributed to this report. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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