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AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Wednesday September 19, 2001
Indonesian Muslim groups threaten to expel US citizens
JAKARTA, Sept 19 (AFP) - Hardline Indonesian Islamic groups threatened Wednesday to raid US facilities and expel Americans nationwide if Washington attacks Afghanistan in its war against terrorism.
"If America drops even one bullet in Afghanistan, God willing, we will wipe out all US facilities and interests here," said Muhammad Kalono, the head of Laskar Jundullah.
Kalono, who claimed he had led searches for US citizens in the central Java town of Solo last year, was speaking at a press conference given by nine radical Islamic groups.
Abdul Khohar from the Front of the Defenders of Islam said his group would also "carry out an all-out sweeping" of US facilities and nationals, with a view to forcibly expelling Americans.
The United States has named Saudi exile Osama bin Laden -- who is sheltered by Afghanistan's fundamentalist Islamic Taliban militia -- as the prime suspect in the deadly assaults in New York and Washington on September 11.
If the US attacks Afghanistan, "that means they are declaring war against Muslims," said Khalil Ridwan, chairman of the Association of Indonesian Muslim Boarding Schools.
He called on Muslims across Indonesia, which has the world's biggest Islamic population, to gear up for a jihad or holy war.
A US military attack on Afghanistan "will be tantamount to a crusade against Islam. We will beat the drums for a jihad war," he said.
Last week's terror attacks "should help America realise and carry out a self-introspection for their 'Rambo' style actions and indiscriminate support for Israel," said Ayip Syafruddin, spokesman for the Laskar Jihad.
The Laskar Jihad claims to have sent some 10,000 Muslim volunteers to fight Christians in the eastern Indonesian islands of the Malukus and its main city of Ambon since early last year.
"If the US is adamant to attack and hold wars against Muslims and Islam -- under the pretext of a war against terrorism -- there is no other choice for Muslims but to fight back," Syafruddin said.
Ferry Nur, the leader of the Jakarta-based Anti-Zionist Movement, also warned President Megawati Sukarnoputri -- currently in Washington -- not to side with the US.
"If Megawati betrays Muslim people here, God willing she will fall from her post within several months," Nur said.
Bush is due to meet Megawati later Wednesday. He is expected to seek support for his planned war on global terrorism.
Megawati has condemned the "brutal and indiscriminate" assaults and said her country will join the global battle against terrorism.
But Vice President Hamzah Haz, who heads Indonesia's largest Muslim party, has warned the US against scapegoating any Muslim nation.
Jakarta police spokesman Chief Commissioner Anton Bachrul Alam told AFP police and the military would take "stern action" if any Muslim groups targeted US interests or citizens.
Copyright © 2001 AFP. All rights reserved.
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